Eduardo Cabrita, who began a two-day official visit to Greece on Monday, said Portugal was ready to receive migrants from refugee camps in Greece and that the country would discuss this further at bilateral meetings with three Greek ministers.

“Portugal is willing to establish a mechanism of bilateral cooperation of transference of migrants from Greece to Portugal with support from the European Union,” he said.

According to Cabrita, in these meetings they are to discuss “the bilateral mechanism of cooperation between Portugal and Greece in supporting the reduction of migratory pressure,” despite the number of refugees being lower than those seen in 2015 and 2016.

He pointed out that 28,000 migrants arrived to Greece this year and that there were currently around 50,000 at refugee camps.

With the end of the European Union’s relocation plan, Greece has seen a rise of 30% of refugees arriving in July and August compared to the same period last year, according to the ministry of internal administration.