Italy – Malta: immigration emergency cooperation.

Strait of Sicily 11 November 2013

Defence Minister Mario Mauro welcomed the Italian and Maltese Prime Ministers, Enrico Letta and Joseph Muscat, aboard Italian Navy Ship Durand de la Penne within the framework of Operation Mare Nostrum.

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During the meeting– attended by the Italian Chief of Defence Staff, Admiral Luigi Binelli Mantelli, and Chief of Navy Staff, Admiral Giuseppe De Giorgi- the Defence Minister and the two Prime Ministers met Navy personnel employed in the military and humanitarian mission conducted in southern Mediterranean.

The operation aims at strengthening high seas surveillance and rescue activities to increase security levels, safeguard human lives and check migration flows by using naval and air assets.

On the occasion Prime Minister Letta thanked all the military involved, stressing how Mare Nostrum helped rescue and save more than 1,000 human lives, detect one mother ship and arrest 16 people involved in human trafficking, marking the success of the operation.

Without Mare Nostrum – Letta said- the Lampedusa tragedy could have happened again. We have been able to avoid it thanks to the commitment of our military.

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