EU-Arab League to form working group on immigration

The EU-Arab League ministerial conference will come to an end later on this afternoon with the first foreign ministers to leave the discussion expressing themselves very satisfied with the initiative which, they said, should help strengthen the platform for dialogue between Europe and the Arab world.

The Spanish and Austrian ministers Miguel Moratinos and Ursula Plassnik addressed the press just before leaving this earlier this afternoon.

“I would like to thank my colleague Michael Frendo for organising this meeting,” Dr Plassnik said, echoing her Spanish counterpart,

“Malta has reaffirmed its credentials as a link not only between Mediterranean states but also between the Europe and the Arab world.”

The conference mostly focused on the instability in the Middle East, immigration and climate change – on which the Maltese Ambassador on Climate Change Michael Zammit Cutajar spoke to the delegates this morning.

Asked about the discussions on immigration, Dr Moratinos said it was agreed during the meeting that a working group would be set up to pursue the issues raised, but did not specify any specific issues that were discussed.

Picture: Arab League Secretary General Amre Moussa during the conference this morning. (Darrin Zammit Lupi)