President George Vella had a meeting with the President of Italy Sergio Mattarella at the Quirinal Palace in Rome to bid farewell.
The President of Malta was honoured by President Mattarella with the ‘Gran Croce decorato di Gran Cordone’, the highest international honour from the Italian State, as a show of friendship and collaboration between the two countries.
President Vella and President Mattarella referred to the close links between Malta and Italy since the establishment of diplomatic relations after the Independence in 1964. President Vella remarked that the relations between the two countries are the strongest in people-to-people contacts that have grown stronger over the years, as well as with regards to trade and investment relations.
Malta and Italy have convergent interests and common objectives as protagonists of Mediterranean diplomacy and, since 2004, as active members of the European Union. The Presidents discussed possibilities of how to further strengthen the role of the European Union at the international level. They referred to the challenges that the European Union is facing including its growth. President Vella and President Mattarella agreed that the world needs the European Union, in particular its role in achieving stability and peace. They expressed the desire to continue to consolidate the ever-stronger role of the European Union at the international level.
They also talked at length about irregular migration, which affects both countries, and solidarity between the members of the European Union. Regarding the war in Ukraine and the one between Israel and Hamas, the Presidents expressed the hope that ultimately just peace will prevail.
In the context of multilateral cooperation between the two countries, one of the topics mentioned was climate change, and how it is having a lasting effect on present and future generations.
For this meeting at the end of his Presidency, President Vella was accompanied by Mrs Vella, and by the delegation that included, among others, the Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade Ian Borg.