Foreign Minister Michael Frendo met his German counterpart in Hamburg and briefed him informally about the escalating arrival of boatloads of irregular migrants in Malta and the concern this was causing for the country, the Department of Information said.

The two ministers agreed that it would be appropriate to include a discussion on this issue in the next General Affairs and External Relations Council of Foreign Ministers.

The meeting between the two took place in the margins of the eighth Asia-Europe Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (ASEM Foreign Ministers’ Meeting) where Dr Frendo spoke about climate change, saying this was a test for world governance and that international public opinion demanded that countries address this issue successfully.

He asked for a global consensus which looked beyond Kyoto and sought productive and creative responses to the challenge. Dr Frendo voiced the particular concern of island territories which have an enhanced vulnerability from climate change: “indeed some even have their very existence at stake,” he said.