President George Abela yesterday announced plans for an official visit to Australia during the closing speech of a week-long convention for Maltese living abroad. No dates have yet been given.

Organised by the Foreign Affairs Ministry, the 2010 Convention for Maltese Living Abroad brought together over 100 Maltese migrants from the five continents. The first convention was organised in 1968.

Addressing members of the Maltese community from Australia, Dr Abela acknowledged the sadness associated with emigration.

The President said that for a short while, he too was a Maltese emigrant after his parents travelled to Australia when he was young. "I know that emigration sometimes also brought sadness because it had to be done to overcome economic difficulties," he said.

In his speech, Dr Abela noted that reforms in dual citizenship laws helped many migrants to continue to be part of "the Maltese soul", although he said integration in the new country was helpful. The President also briefly referred to problems faced by the ageing Maltese migrant community and said these needed to be addressed.

One issue raised at the convention was that ageing migrants became more and more detached from their adoptive country as they lost their ability to communicate adequately.

Dr Abela praised various government initiatives that were recently announced, such as the setting up of an agency for the Maltese community abroad and scholarships for migrants to learn the Maltese language.

"If youngsters don't learn about the past, they won't understand the present," Dr Abela said.