The Maltese Minister of Foreign Affairs urges the European Union to increase its support for Libya so that it can protect its borders and ports.

Tripoli, November 28, 2020 (Lana) - The Maltese Minister of Foreign Affairs, Evarist Bartolo urged the European Union to increase its support for Libya so that it can protect its borders and ports while fighting organized crime and human trafficking, praising the cooperation of the Libyan authorities with his country in reducing the number of illegal immigrants to Malta. The Maltese minister said during the Migration Board at the Mediterranean Forum 2020, with the participation of the Minister of Interior, "Bash-Agha", that cooperation between Malta and Libya prevented a "huge crisis". However, urgent and long-term issues remained to be resolved. Bartolo revealed that 2256 illegal immigrants arrived this year in Malta, and had it not been for the good relations and strong cooperation with Libya, 7,000 others would have arrived at the shores of the country. Bartolo stressed the need to increase cooperation with Africa, enhance economic resilience, create jobs, and provide asylum seekers with a future in their country, and suggested opening more centers in Africa such as those in Rwanda and Niger where irregular immigration applications are processed. He explained that both Malta and Italy believe that the new immigration charter proposed by the European Commission is "complex and ambiguous," and in cooperation with Greece and Spain, they are pushing for mandatory resettlement mechanisms. =Lana=