In a joint statement, the minister of internal administration and the minister of the presidency and administrative modernisation said these 23 refugees are the last people to have been interviewed in Egypt by the first mission of the Borders and Frontiers service and by the High Commissioner for Migrations in July last year.

According to the government, there are 127 people in Portugal under this programme.

Portugal accepted to receive up to 1,010 people from Egypt and Turkey.

The two ministers said new missions are scheduled under the resettlement scheme, with a second mission to Turkey taking place in March, followed by a third and last in April to Egypt and a third mission to Turkey in June.