Joseph Muscat meets Italian premier Mario Monti
Labour leader Joseph Muscat holds brief meeting with Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti, in Malta for 5 plus 5 summit.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti had a brief meeting with Labour leader Joseph Muscat in Rabat this afternoon.
As the 5 plus 5 meeting was taking place at Verdala Palace in Rabat, the Italian premier met Muscat at Xara Lodge in Rabat.
In a brief 20-minute meeting, Monti and Muscat discussed a number of issues including the eurozone financial crisis, bilateral relations between the two countries and energy, including the interconnector which in the process of being constructed between Malta and Siciliy.
Monti is in Malta for the 5 plus 5 dialogue meeting, in which leaders from France, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain along with those from Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia are attending.
The meeting commenced today with the intent to strengthen cooperation within the Mediterranean region following last year's tumultuous events which saw the overthrowing of the regimes is Libya and Tunisia.
The group was formed in 1990 primarily to increase cooperation between the north and south banks of the Mediterranean and this is the first time in 10 years that the heads of state of all member countries are meeting.