Britain is to take ten migrants from Malta as part of the EU's pilot project for the resettlement of refugees.

The decision was communicated to the Maltese government today.

"The UK's participation in the pilot project will form part of a comprehensive package of assistance to Malta, which will include programmes intended to address the flow of illegal immigrants to the central Mediterranean in the long term, including assistance in returning failed asylum seekers and obtaining the documents required to facilitate such returns," the government said in a statement.

The Minister for Justice and Home Affairs, Carm Mifsud Bonnici, expressed his satisfaction that the United Kingdom was joining other countries including France, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Slovenia in taking positive steps to assist Malta in the face of the exceptional pressures that the migratory flow from Africa to Europe was exerting on Malta.

"Malta has consistently and relentlessly argued that it should not be left to face the pressures of illegal immigration from Africa alone because this is a European problem," he said.

" The Pact for Immigration and Asylum, which was approved last year addressed this issue tangibly by laying down the need for effective voluntary burden-sharing mechanisms to assist those European Union members which were facing disproportionate pressures from illegal immigration."