EU Commission Vice-President and Commissioner for Justice and Interior Franco Frattini pledged to help Malta with regards to its illegal immigration crisis with the launch of immediate joint surveillance patrols in the Central Mediterranean.
 Commissioner Frattini reaffirmed his personal commitment to helping Malta overcome its illegal immigration crisis during a meeting with Foreign Minister Michael Frendo held in Morocco on Tuesday at the Euro-African Ministerial Conference on Migration and Development.
Foreign Minister Frendo told Commissioner Frattini that joint patrolling outside Maltese territorial waters and search and rescue region will serve as a deterrent to international criminal organisations which use Malta and the Central Mediterranean route to traffic human beings. Minister Frendo said that the imminent commencing of EU joint patrolling for Malta is essential this summer. “For my country, illegal immigration is not just another problem on which we hold conferences, like any other problem - this for us is an issue of vital importance” emphasised Minister Frendo.
During the meeting, Commissioner Frattini agreed to support the proposal put forward by Malta’s Foreign Minister Michael Frendo to hold a preparatory meeting in Malta for the Tripoli EU – AU Conference.
Speaking at the Conference on Monday Foreign Minister Dr. Michael Frendo urged for a holistic solution to deal with the repeated influxes of asylum seekers in Malta.
In turn, United Nations (UN) High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres unveiled a 10-point action plan addressing the issues of mixed and irregular migratory movements in a coherent and practical way; in countries of origin, transit and destination.
Read more about this issue on MaltaMedia's special feature:
Lanċa Ġejja u Oħra Sejra: Malta and its migrations.
See also:
Minister urges for illegal immigration solution
By MaltaMedia News
Jul 11, 2006, 10:54 CET
© Copyright 2006 - MaltaMedia Online Network
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