Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella yesterday said Malta was “very, very grateful” for Swiss cooperation on irregular migration, particularly since no EU country had shown similar support.

The minister was referring to a group of 19 North African refugees who were resettled in Switzerland after arriving in Malta last year.

“I hope this cooperation continues. Malta needs more help on this issue,” he said.

Dr Vella was speaking at a meeting with Swiss Ambassador Bernardino Regazzoni. Although not part of the EU, Switzerland had agreed to absorb some refugees located in Malta.

Describing the move as an expression of solidarity with the challenges facing the Mediterranean region, Mr Regazzoni said he hoped he could offer more assistance to the Maltese government in future.

“We have a relationship of cooperation with Malta that stretches back more than two decades.

“We want to sustain this relationship by helping as much as we can,” Mr Regazzoni said.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said last week that he expected the same solidarity in dealing with migration as the EU had shown during the banking crisis.

Dr Vella said that while 19 was not a large number of refugees, he hoped future Swiss cooperation would help ease migratory pressures.

Thanking the Swiss government for recently funding the purchase of a PET scanner for Mater Dei Hospital, Dr Vella assured Mr Regazzoni that Malta would support Swiss proposals in ongoing EU tax reform talks.

“Malta is a friendly Mediterranean country on this issue,” Mr Vella said.

Switzerland is at odds with the 28 EU member states over the preferential tax treatment given to multinationals such as Procter & Gamble and oil trading company Trafigura Beeher BV.

The Swiss government estimates that as much as €2.4 billion could be lost every year if incentives to keep multinationals in the country are not implemented.