Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah has thanked Malta for saving the lives of 41 Palestinians in last week's boat tragedy near Lampedusa.

The rescue of some 150 migrants by Malta was mentioned by the Palestinian Prime Minister as he greeted Dr Muscat in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Dr Muscat said the Palestinian embassy had cooperated with the Maltese authorities to help identify the rescued people, who were Palestinians and Syrians.

The Palestinian government was also helping to try and relocate them in other countries where they had relatives.

During the meeting both sides discussed areas of mutual interest, including how Malta could help Palestine build its infrastructure and policy.

Malta has also pledged support money to the tune of €110,000 for education, tourism, infrastructure and health.

Both prime ministers agreed to set up a joint cooperation council to prepare a roadmap for concrete action in the four areas, with Dr Muscat inviting his counterpart to send over to Malta a political delegation to get the ball rolling.

Dr Muscat then visited Pharmacare, a pharmaceutical company with German and Palestinian investment. Palestinian owner Bassim Khury also owns a pharmaceutical company in Malta, which Dr Muscat described as the first Palestinian investment in the country.

The first visit of a Maltese prime minister to the Palestinian territories also took Dr Muscat and his wife Michelle to the Aida refugee camp where they visited a UN-run school in one of the poor neighbourhoods.

On the last day of his three-day visit to the Middle East, Dr Muscat also visited the church of the nativity in Bethlehem and held talks with John Gatt Rutter, a Maltese who heads the EU representative office in Israel.