President of Malta Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca met President of Italy Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinale Palace. During the meeting with the respective delegations, both Presidents touched upon a variety of issues of mutual interest which are currently affecting the Euro-Mediterranean region.

President Coleiro Preca said that both Malta and Italy enjoy excellent bilateral relations on a diplomatic and political level and added that these relations have developed further over the years thanks to increased people-to-people contact at all levels of society, with a strong Maltese diaspora in Italy and an even stronger Italian diaspora in Malta.

President Coleiro Preca and President Mattarella also spoke of the future of Europe in light of the upcoming European Parliament Elections in May; about the phenomenon of migration and how sustainable direct investment in Africa could most definitely be part of the solution to this phenomenon; and of the Arraiolos Group of Non-Executive EU Presidents, which provides the non-executive Presidents with a platform to bring forward their peoples’ feelings, concerns, suggestions, and aspirations.

At the end of the meeting, President Coleiro Preca thanked President Mattarella for his most-esteemed cooperation at various moments during her tenure, describing him as a wise leader, not only in Italy, but in Europe.

President Coleiro Preca was accompanied by Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion Carmelo Abela and the Ambassador of Malta to the Republic of Italy Vanessa Frazier.