Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri has had talks in Benghazi with Khalifa Haftar, the de facto leader of the government of the eastern part of Libya.

It marked the high-level meeting so far, with Malta having always recognised the Tripoli-based government. 

Haftar and Camilleri discussed security in the Mediterranean and agreed to cooperate more closely in training, fighting human trafficking and other criminal activities, and education, the Home Affairs Ministry said. 

Camilleri was accompanied by the permanent secretary at the foreign ministry,  Christopher Cutajar, Cabinet Secretary Ryan Spagnol, AFM commander Brigadier Clinton O' Neill, the director of Civil Protection Peter Paul Coleiro and the ambassador on migration, Malcolm Cutajar.

Christopher Cutajar had led a first meeting between a Maltese delegation and the Haftar administration in May last year. Spagnol and O'Neil had also attended that meeting.