Australian Foreign Minister in Malta today - July 13, 2009

Australia's Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, will be in Malta today for bilateral talks with his Maltese counterpart, Tonio Borg. This is the first visit to Malta by an Australian Foreign Minister since 1992. It follows the State Visit to Australia in...

Australia's Foreign Minister, Stephen Smith, will be in Malta today for bilateral talks with his Maltese counterpart, Tonio Borg.

This is the first visit to Malta by an Australian Foreign Minister since 1992. It follows the State Visit to Australia in February by former President Eddie Fenech Adami and Dr Borg.

The two foreign ministers are expected to discuss how Australia and Malta could improve their trade relations and also the issue of illegal immigration.

On Tuesday morning, Mr Smith will be laying of a wreath at Pietà Military Cemetery, which contains the highest number of Australian war graves in Malta.

Mr Smith will be accompanied by Malta's High Commissioner to Australia Francis Tabone and a delegation of journalists.

The Maltese community in Australia is the largest outside Malta, with approximately 153,000 people claiming Maltese ancestry.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.