Migration is not a phenomenon that can be stopped, but rather one that must be well managed

“Migration is not a phenomenon that can be stopped, but rather one that must be well managed. We must address the root causes of irregular migration and forced displacement,” said Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion Carmelo Abela during the plenary session – ‘Towards a Global Compact: What’s at Stake for the Region?’ – at the Mediterranean Dialogues 2018 in Rome.

The Mediterranean Dialogues is an annual high-level initiative promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and ISPI (Italian Institute for International Political Studies) in Rome. The event aims to draft a positive agenda for the Mediterranean by stimulating debate and promoting new ideas, rethinking traditional approaches and addressing shared challenges at both the regional and the international level.

Speaking at a session focusing on migration—during which the Secretary of State to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of the Kingdom of Morocco Mounia Boucella and Director General of the International Migration Organisation Antonio Vitorino participated—Minister Abela said that countries in the Mediterranean have to deal with the situation of migration all the time. All countries need to adopt a holistic approach, which means that apart from saving lives, they need to address the root causes and work to invest more in third countries of origin, especially in the African continent, and fight the irregular and criminal activity of human trafficking and smuggling.

Minister Abela stated that, “as a small country, Malta has witnessed the benefits of a regional approach to migration and within this context, given that we refer to migration as a global challenge, we have called for the need to also consider global initiatives. When we cooperate together, we get results. This can be easily shown in the total number of migrants crossing Europe, which is currently eighty percent lower than the number of arrivals in the same period of last year.”

On the margins of the fourth edition of the Rome Mediterranean Dialogues 2018, Minister Abela had a bilateral meeting with Tarō Kōno, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan. This meeting continued to enhance the excellent bilateral ties between the two countries, especially now that Malta and Japan have recently ratified the EU-Japan Strategic Partnership Agreement on 31st October 2018. The discussions also served to explore new areas of cooperation.

While in Rome, Minister Abela also had other bilateral meetings with his Palestinian and Iranian counterparts, Riad Malki and Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Director General of the International Organisation for Migration António Vitorino, the Secretary General of the League of Arab States Ahmed Aboul Gheit, and with Vice President Policy and Partnership Pierre Heilbronn.