Malta and Italy have agreed to carry out more "intense and systematic consultation" to coordinate the respective foreign policy positions related to the management of migratory flows. 

The two countries will also undertake joint initiatives in negotiations on the multi-annual financial framework for the period 2021-2027, to ensure greater allocations for more incisive action in the cooperation and development of the countries of origin and transit of migration flows.

In a statement through the Department of Information, the government said the agreement follows up on a recent meeting in Rome between Italian Foreign Affairs minister Enzo Moavero Milanesi and his Maltese counterpart Carmelo Abela. 

In a break from past cooperation, Italy and Malta have been at loggerheads over the issue of migration flows between north Africa and Europe.

Italy's right-wing  deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini has often accused Malta of shirking its responsibilities while both countries have closed their ports to NGO rescue vessels. 

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