Six months after the Valletta Summit on Migration, there are concerns that the Mediterranean could again be the epicentre of irregular migration flows and today, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development has set up a coordination and cooperation centre for migration here in Malta.

Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella and the Director of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) Michael Spindelegger, with this in mind, opened the organisation's coordination and cooperation centre for Migration in the Mediterranean in Valletta. All future ICMPD activities in the Mediterranean will be coordinated and promoted from this new hub. The focus of ICMPD's regional activities will be on various migration dialogues and technical assistance as well as the relationship between the countries of the Mediterranean.

The ICMPD addresses the most urgent aspects of irregular migration and forced displacement from its new Coordination and Cooperation Centre in Malta. At regional level, the Euromed Migration Programme aims to establish a framework that develops and implements evidence-based migration and international protection policies. At a national level, this will initiate the development of a rights-based migration system for Libya as well as the improvement of border management in Lebanon. The City-to-City project implemented by the ICMPD looks at opportunities of migration in between eight urban centres in Europe and North Africa and the Middle East. It will develop new ideas for and success stories of migration in between major cities.

The ICMPD has 15 member states and 175 staff members. It was founded in 1993 and was created to serve as a support mechanism for informal consultations and to provide expertise and services in the newly emerging landscape of multilateral cooperation on migration and asylum issues.

The reasons for migration in Africa are different to those in Eastern Europe, coming from Syria, Minister Vella said. "They include poverty, water scarcity, diversification etc. These are all challenges that must be dealt with in order to see a change in migration flows. The most important factor, he said, would be dealing with the Libyan situation.

Mr Spindelegger said that the opening of the ICMPD's first regional office in Malta highlights "our concerns regarding the migration issues in the Mediterranean. Together with local and international partners, we will bring a valuable contribution to finding solutions and advancing new policies in the migration field in Europe and beyond".

As for why he chose Malta for this regional hub, he said that Malta is the heart of the Mediterranean, and that they needed a country with connections in many countries.