Anton Tabone, Speaker of the House of Representatives received at his Chambers the Italian Ambassador, Paolo Andrea Trabalza and the British High Commissioner, Nicholas Archer.

Discussions with both diplomats focused on strengthening inter-parliamentary cooperation with a view to establish, as members of the European Union, an ongoing constructive bilateral dialogue on issues of common interest and develop new areas of cooperation.

The meetings explored the possibility of establishing Friendship Parliamentary Groups and cooperation between administrations of their respective national parliaments.

Mr Tabone highlighted Malta’s Mediterranean dimension and its endeavours to set up a parliamentary assembly of the Mediterranean which would be complementary to the Euro-Med Parliamentary Assembly.

With the British High Commissioner, Mr Tabone spoke also about the possibility that the UK, Malta and Cyprus, as members of both organisations, take the lead in establishing an institutional link between the EU and the Commonwealth.