“In November we will receive, from Egypt, around one hundred and fifty refugees who were the focus of an initial selction mission conducted in June,” minister Eduardo Cabrita told Lusa after attending a conference on migration in Vienna.

As part of the European relocation programme, approved in 2017 by the European Commission, Portugal said it could take in over 1,000 refugees currently in refugee camps in Egypt and Tunisia by the end of 2019.

Inspectors from Portugal's Foreigners and Borders Service, along with a team from the High Commission on Migration, in June iun Egypt carried out a mission for contact and interviews with around 150 refugees due to arrive in Portugal in November.

Cabrita added that this year there would be further missions to Egypt and, for the first time, to Turkey.

“These refugees are from third countries and selction by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees and by the International Migration Organisation," he said.