US President Barack Obama said the refugee crisis is international not just European, Radio Sawa reported on Tuesday.

During a meeting with Italian President Sergio Mattarella, Obama said "We spent a lot of time discussing the refugee crisis that’s facing Europe and Italy in particular. And I indicated to the President that we view this not just as a European problem but as a global problem, as a problem for the United States, as a strain on the transatlantic relationship, and indicated the ways in which I want to see the United States working in concert with our NATO partners and European Union partners to address the humanitarian crisis and also to make sure that we’re going after some of the human trafficking networks that have been developing and are profiteering off the misery of others."

The Italian president underlined the friendship between Italy and the United States which dates back 70 years.

The Italian president said "And it is also through the cooperation within the Atlantic alliance that we have been able to overcome, over time, the many demanding challenges and difficulties successfully. And it is through this closeness and friendship and cooperation that exists at present and will continue to exist in the future that we will be helped to overcome the many new challenges that will appear before us, and we will be able to defeat in this manner the enemies of peace, freedom and human rights."

He added that "As President Obama has told you, we have agreed on the numerous issues and challenges that we are facing, not only in terms of actually identifying them, but also in determining how we wish to deal with them. So, on the subject of terrorism, which of course is engendering great violence and death all over the world, and migration, we agreed that we need a very balanced approach -- a humane approach -- in dealing with this matter, because we have to consider issues of security and the rights of the people that are affected."

Source: MENA