Malta has backed calls by Italy for the forthcoming meeting of EU Justice Ministers to discuss the impact of developments in North Africa on immigration.
Italian Justice Minister Roberto Maroni made the request yesterday as Lampedusa and southern Italy saw a sudden influx of thousands of immigrants, mostly from Tunisia.
None have arrived in Malta so far.
Maltese Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici wrote to the EU presidency and Home Affairs Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom expressing Malta's concern.
He said that Malta was closely following what was taking place in Sicily and Lampedusa and strongly supported Sig Maroni's call for the issue to be discussed at the next ministerial meeting later this month.
Earlier today Italy's government declared a humanitarian emergency after thousands of asylum-seekers sailed across the Meditarranean from Tunisia, overwhelming authorities on Lampedusa
"The cabinet today ... has proclaimed a state of humanitarian emergency following the influx of the large number of citizens from North Africa," the government said in a statement.
The statement said that the decision to call an official emergency would enable civil protection officers "to take immediate action needed to control this phenomenon and assist citizens who have fled from North Africa."
In particular, the move will enable the central government to release funds for local authorities in areas which have been inundated by the wave of refugees, most of whom have fled to the tiny island of Lampedusa.
The majority of the asylum-seekers sailed from nearby Tunisia, in the wake of the North African country's revolution four weeks ago.
Nearly 3,000 illegal immigrants have landed in Italy since Wednesday, according to a number of sources, including 250 overnight.
Most were packed into small fishing boats that were intercepted by coast guards and then taken to Lampedusa where they were given blankets and received medical care after stepping off the boats.
Hundreds have had to sleep out in the open at the port because of a lack of facilities on the island, while others were taken to local hotels.
The Italian authorities have organised an airlift and put a ferry into service to take some of the immigrants off Lampedusa, transporting them to identification centres in southern Sicily.
However around a thousand immigrants are still stuck on Lampedusa despite the efforts to clear the island.
Italy made a formal request yesterday for aid from the European Union to combat what it warned was a looming humanitarian crisis, saying the EU's justice and home affairs council should meet immediately.
In a joint statement, Interior Minister Roberto Maroni and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini also requested "the immediate deployment of a Frontex mission for patrolling and interception off the Tunisian coast," referring to the EU's border security agency based in Warsaw.