After meeting his Italian counterpart Mario Mauro, the minister said the talks focused on the issue of refugees coming from northern Africa and on Lampedusa.

He told Muro that refugees were not only Italy's issue but the issue of Europe as whole and that Slovenia would back this view also at the EU level.

Jakič said Mauro was very happy about the offer to deploy the Slovenian ship to help in the issue and that he called Italian PM Enrico Letta on the phone, who thanked Jakič for the offered help.

Letta is to speak of the issue at the upcoming EU summit on 24 and 25 October, where Jakič said Slovenian PM Alenka Bratušek would support him in seeking a political answer to the issue.

Jakič is visiting the NATO Defense College in Rome today, where he will have the chance to congratulate Daria Daniels Škodnik, a Slovenian who recently became chancellor of the college. Her candidacy was supported also by the Slovenian Defence Ministry.

Daniels Škodnik is not only the first woman to head the college in its 60-year history, but also a rare non-American to sit at its helm.