Italian Premier Paolo Gentiloni will say in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington Thursday that "I think that maintaining the joint alliance of Italy and the United States is not only an opportunity, but also a political duty," according to sources aboard the plane taking him to the US capital.

"We need to cooperate to contain conflicts and better manage crises," Gentiloni will add. Gentiloni will tell the CSIS that "the migration compact launched by the European Union in 2016 should be confirmed and broadened in scope". He will say that "in the short term, we need a more balanced distribution of the burdens among EU countries, and more efficient systems of control on arrivals are fundamental, combined with a more efficient mechanism of identification and repatriation".