TRIPOLI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Italian Ambassador to Libya Giuseppe Peroni on Tuesday praised the joint efforts with Libya in dealing with illegal immigration.

Peroni made his remarks during a joint press conference in the Libyan capital Tripoli with Mohamed Beshr, the head of Libya's anti-illegal immigration department.

"There is a remarkable cooperation between Rome and Tripoli in reduction of illegal migration flows and the humanitarian management of the phenomenon, resulting in a decline of the number of migrants crossing towards Europe," Peroni said.

"We also commend the significant cooperation in combating crime and smuggling networks, which exploit and extort migrants," he added.

The Italian ambassador also revealed that there is a high-level coordination between Libyan and Italian NGOs to provide assistance to immigration reception centers.

He stressed that combating illegal immigration is a common priority between the two countries, especially with the suffering, repercussions and negative effects of illegal migration.

Beshr praised the partnership between the department and the Italian Embassy in reducing migrant flows towards Europe.

"We consider Italy as a closer partner than any other country due to its geographic and regional situation. It has provided a lot of logistical and material support in the fight against illegal immigration," Beshr said.

Beshr pointed that Libya relies on increased support from Italy to improve the conditions of migrant shelters.

Libya is a preferred point of departure for illegal immigrants wanting to cross the Mediterranean towards European shores, due to the state of insecurity and chaos that followed the 2011 uprising.

EU has launched the naval operation Sophia in 2015 to monitor Libyan maritime border in order to fight illegal immigration across the Mediterranean, as well as applying an arms ban on Libya. The EU has extended the mandate of Sofia until the end of 2018.

According to European reports, the operation stopped 470 boats from transporting migrants to Europe, and rescued 40,000 migrants at sea.

The operation also arrested more than 100 smugglers and members of human trafficking networks and handed them over to Italy.