Home Affairs Minister Manuel Mallia told parliament today that he had had talks with his Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano with a view for Malta to take part in the Mare Nostrum programme in the Mediterranean.

He said that as a result of his talks, since January, Italy had taken some 20,000 illegal immigrants while Malta took on only 80. He added that this kind of cooperation would be extended to other Mediterranean countries.

The minister was introducing the second reading of the Armed Forces of Malta (Amendment) Bill which eliminates the recruitment in the armed forces of persons under 18 years of age with the possibility of engaging in armed conflict.

Mare Nostrum is a naval operation which sees the Italian Navy patrolling off Libya to rescue migrants.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

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.