On the 13th, the foreign ministers of 9 EU member states in the Mediterranean region held a meeting in Medina, Malta, calling for strengthened cooperation to address regional challenges at the European level and to leverage the Mediterranean region as a bridge between the EU and its African neighbors. These nine countries include Malta, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain. Malta's Foreign Minister Ian Boch stated in a statement released on the same day that the meeting aims to prepare for the summit of heads of state and government of the nine Mediterranean countries to be held in September this year. Boch emphasized at the meeting that it is crucial to strengthen cooperation among the nine Mediterranean countries in order to address regional challenges and opportunities at the European level. He said that although the Mediterranean region has a rich history and culture, it also brings some challenges that require collective efforts to address, while also providing opportunities for the region and other EU countries to benefit. Boch also stated that the nine countries have agreed to engage in a "more comprehensive and systematic" dialogue with their African neighbors, as each country can "benefit greatly" from strategic partnerships with these countries. The meeting also discussed the issue of informal immigration. In this regard, Boch emphasized the importance of cooperation and comprehensive solutions, including economic and sustainable development, to effectively address the challenges of immigration, and urged the EU to provide sufficient funding to support it. According to the Malta Times, in recent years, European countries have sought to strengthen their contacts with African countries, with the main purpose of preventing the flow of irregular immigrants from the source. Recently, cooperation in energy and other fields has also become a major focus of diplomatic talks, and this meeting once again put energy cooperation between the EU and North African countries on the agenda. (New News Agency)