The economic situation and the financial crisis, as well as immigration were subjects discussed by Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi and Swedish Prime Minister Frederik Reinfeldt at Rosenbad, Stockholm, six days before the EU Swedish presidency comes into effect.

Dr Gonzi and Mr Reinfeldt spoke in detail of priorities in the Swedish programme that are of importance to Malta and later gave a joint press conference.

Talks focused particularly on the ability of the European Union to continue its positive initiatives of the past six months while addressing key issues including unemployment and the cost of living, which are greatly affecting people, Dr Gonzi said. The aim is to get back to sustainable public finances and stricter regulation of the financial markets.

The Swedish presidency is expected to settle institutional issues such as the Lisbon treaty, nominations for the new commission presidency and the appointment of new commissioners as soon as possible, in order to focus on priorities in the Stockholm programme and solutions for the global economic crisis.

Meanwhile, they spoke of the need to put into effect the recent conclusions of the EU council at last week’s summit, which launched a pilot project concerning illegal immigration to Malta.

This project, described as a “learning experience” by the Swedish Prime Minister, will strengthen efforts to prevent and combat illegal immigration in an efficient manner and thus prevent future human tragedies. It is based on solidarity and shared responsibility, focusing on the humanitarian emergency and the speedy establishment of the European Asylum Support Office, a strengthened FRONTEX, clear rules of engagement for joint patrolling and the disembarkation of rescued people and the increased use of joint return flights. Dr Gonzi and Mr Reinfeldt also spoke on the need for deploying resources to transit countries and countries of origin.

Dr Gonzi said that immigration is an EU problem that concerns everyone and was grateful for the Swedish commitment to convert solidarity into concrete action.

“Immigrants are victims of instability and human trafficking and thus not solely Malta’s responsibility,” he said.

He told Mr Reinfeldt that landings of migrants in Malta in the first five months of the year were comparable to 1.2 million landings in Sweden in terms of territory size.

In turn, the Swedish Prime Minister described the talks with Malta as “excellent”, noting that Malta and Sweden enjoyed bilateral relations based on close cooperation, even though the countries are not neighbours.

Like Malta, Sweden has a long tradition of refugees mainly coming from Iraq and so it understands Malta’s concerns and call for solidarity. Although there were differences among EU member states on the migration phenomenon, Sweden was trying to push things forward and facilitate matters especially in terms of a common asylum policy, he said.

Mr Reinfeldt also hoped to see a better climate for investment in Malta, among other countries, as half of the Swedish economy was export based. However, this was closely linked to solving the financial crisis, as larger companies were not able to finance investment.

They also spoke about climate change and energy, in particular the need to have the necessary infrastructure in place such as the proposed cable between Malta and Sicily and the new turbine, in view of the recent blackout, apart from reaching the EU’s mandatory targets of 20 per cent renewable energy by 2020.

Dr Gonzi also visited Ericsson, the leading Swedish telecommunications company, which employs 20,000 people in Sweden and has offices worldwide, including Malta. As well as discussing the future of Ericsson in Malta, Dr Gonzi was taken through the history of telecommunications and had a glimpse of its future.

He was later given a presentation of SymbioCity, a sustainable development project similar to the SmartCity project in Malta and also held meetings with SEB and investor AB, one of Europe’s leading banks, based in Sweden with strong investment in foreign countries.

Work of the Maltese delegation in Sweden focused on enhancing Malta’s profile and the possibilities of attracting investment.

Later, the Maltese delegation departed for Estonia, where Dr Gonzi is expected to meet Prime Minister Andrus Ansip this morning.

Dr Gonzi is accompanied by Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and Malta’s permanent representative to the EU Richard Cachia Caruana.