Prime Minister Eddie Fenech Adami said it was in the interest of the countries of origin, transit and destination that the flow of migrants is regulated in order to ensure a proper sustainable balance.
He was addressing the first meeting of heads of state and government of the Western Mediterranean - known as the 5+5 Dialogue - in Tunis, yesterday afternoon.
"We need with some urgency to determine the role that the 5+5 can play, along with the other fora to establish the manner in which this instrument can contribute to the resolution of the present challenges without duplicating what we are doing in the Mediterranean Forum and the Barcelona process.
"The 5+5 dialogue should be different and innovative," Dr Fenech Adami said.
He added that problems faced in the 1990s have not disappeared but, if anything, have intensified...
Leaders from five states from Europe, namely Portugal, Spain, France, Italy and Malta, and the five states of the Arab Maghreb Union including Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Mauritania are attending the summit.
At the closest point, Europe and North Africa are separated by an eight-kilometre stretch of sea between Spain and Morocco and every year thousands of illegal migrants made the dangerous crossing to reach Europe.
Dr Fenech Adami told Maltese journalists after the session that the 5+5 had to find a niche where to work together and how problems peculiar to the region, including illegal migration, drug trafficking and lack of development, could be tackled.
Dr Fenech Adami told participants the proposal for the setting up of a Mediterranean Common Sea Heritage System, which he had made at a seminar in Tunisia last month, could eventually bring about the cooperative and holistic management of resources that are best managed collectively, such as those of the sea beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.
He said that in opting for this system one would be creating a highly effective network in favour of peace and development in the Mediterranean.
He expressed support to the Tunisian chairmanship's proposal for a Mediterranean Forum for Investment in the Mediterranean that should be organised alternatively in the different countries in the dialogue.
"However beyond the economic dimension, one cannot ignore the cultural and human aspect of our relationship."
Dr Fenech Adami leaves this morning for Nigeria to attend the Commonwealth summit.
This first 5+5 Dialogue summit aims to strengthen the development of such dialogue and outline common guidelines for the major issues concerning the Western Mediterranean namely security and stability, economic development and North African integration, human exchanges and migration, dialogue between cultures and civilisations and EU-Maghreb relations.
The summit is seen as an opportunity for the 10 states to mark their shared commitment to strengthening the links between the Northern and Southern shores of the Mediterranean at a time when the EU was enlarging.
The 5+5 Dialogue was established in Rome in December 1990 following a French initiative.