A delegation from the Italian Agriculture and Forestry Policies Ministry paid a visit to Malta from 1 to 3 October to meet with its counterparts from the Maltese Rural Affairs and Environment Ministry. The technical mission explored the status of the Italo-Maltese bilateral cooperation in the field of the afforestation programmes.

As far as land conservation is concerned, the Italian government is cooperating with the Maltese ministry with the donation of 8,000 indigenous trees carefully raised in Italy to be planted as part of the “Foresta 2000” afforestation project in the area of Mellieha.

Some 2,000 trees were planted in 2004, another 3,000 in 2005 and the rest of the trees (3,000) will be consigned next month to the ministry. The donation of native flora materialised after talks that were held in Malta in September 2004 with the Italian Agriculture and Forestry Policies Ministry and the Italian Corpo Forestale dello Stato. The overall project aims at developing the forest cover in different sites of the Maltese islands, to reintroduce, where possible, the native vegetation typical of the Mediterranean environment and to protect soil from water and wind erosion.

Within this project, the Italian government is offering the use of the highly developed nursery systems of its Corpo Forestale dello Stato, whereby seeds from Maltese endemic trees are sent for propagation and future planting in Malta, thus ensuring the conservation of the local genetic pool.

During the visit, the Italian experts have verified with their Maltese partners the status of the project in view of its full implementation. The Italian embassy reiterates the interest of the Italian government to further continue the technical cooperation that should prove necessary to meet the targets of the afforestation project and recalls that a training course for PARC Section technical officers and supervisors was held in Italy last year.