The EU and Turkey have agreed a €3bn deal to address the ongoing refugee crisis.

"Our agreement sets out a clear plan for the timely re-establishment of order at our shared frontier," said EU President Donald Tusk in a press conference following the meeting.

"We will also step up our assistance to Syrian refugees in Turkey through a new refugee facility of three billion euros."

According to AFP, the EU also agreed to bring focus back on Turkey's accession to the union, which was recognised as a candidate for full membership in 1999 and began accession talks in 2005, which have since stalled.

Tusk said visa requirements for Turkish citizens visiting Schengen-area EU states would be relaxed by October 2016.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the deal would "re-energise" Turkey's EU accession process.

"This is a historic day and a historic meeting, the first meeting of this kind since 11 years," he added.

"No one can guarantee anything on the Syrian issue, we don't know what will go on in Syria, but I can assure that Turkey will be fulfilling all the promises of the joint plan. Our purpose with the EU is to prevent new waves of refugees from Syria and to manage the existing refugee crisis," he said