Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Italian counterpart Matteo Renzi will hold talks in Malta on Thursday as they inaugurate an electricity cable connecting Malta to Sicily.

The visit by the Italian Prime Minister is expected to last a few hours and will coincide with the last day of the local councils electoral campaign.

Talks are set to focus on bilateral relations, security in the Mediterranean, irregular migration and energy. The prime ministers are also scheduled to give a joint press conference at Auberge de Castille.

The highlight will be the inauguration of the interconnector. It will ensure Malta is connected to the European grid for the first time

This will be Mr Renzi’s first official visit to Malta since he became Italian Prime Minister in February of last year. The highlight of his visit will be the inauguration of the interconnector cable, which will ensure Malta is connected to the European electricity grid for the first time.

The interconnector is a 200MW cable linking Malta to Ragusa in Sicily. The cable lands at Magħtab, where it connects to the Kappara sub-station via a tunnel.

The cable will enable Enemalta to buy and sell electricity from and to the European grid. In a radio interview, Dr Muscat yesterday said work on the interconnector project had already fallen behind by two years when the Labour government took office in 2013.

He said the project did not have permits and had been planned badly since the cable was passing through an oil drilling zone.

It had taken two political interventions with former Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta and Mr Renzi to unblock the situation on Italy’s side, Dr Muscat said. The interconnector was conceived by the previous administration and will serve as the backbone for Malta’s energy needs after the Marsa Power Station closure.

However, the Labour government’s energy plan foresees less dependence on the cable as it opts for a new gas-fired power station to serve along the BWSC plant at Delimara.