President George Vella his Irish counterpart, President Michael D. Higgins, for official talks at San Anton Palace. This bilateral meeting followed discussions held with other EU non-executive heads of state during plenary sessions of the Arraiolos Group Meeting. President Higgins expressed his satisfaction at the timing and content of the meeting that saw the active participation of twelve presidents.
Aside from the themes on the agenda the previous day, the two presidents discussed the importance of multilateralism and assessed the functioning of present structures. They also agreed on the need for the international community not to lose the momentum achieved thus far on climate change, the centrality of the citizen and the Conference on the Future of the European Union. The impact of the war in Ukraine on commodity and energy prices was also discussed at length.
This was the second time that the two presidents met during the course of this year, following a state visit by President Michael D. Higgins to Malta in May.
Source: Office of the Prime Minister