​Migration will be the principal topic of debate when regional and local leaders from the EU, North Africa, the Middle East and the Balkans meet in Malta on 22-23 February for the annual meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Regional and Local Assembly (ARLEM).

The first day of the two-day gathering features a conference on migration, at which governors and mayors will be joined by national officials, representatives of the presidency of the Council of the EU, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European External Action Service to discuss the root causes of migration from Africa, the reception of migrants, and the integration of migrants.

The meeting will also result the adoption of recommendations for actions that ARLEM's members would like the EU and non-EU states to take to limit climate change, spur a shift to a low-carbon economy and to support trans-Mediterranean cooperation. The recommendations on energy and climate action have been drawn up by the mayor of Morocco's capital, Mohamed Sadiki of Rabat, while the President of Sardinia, Francesco Pigliaru, has led the way in pushing forward ideas on how the cooperation in the Mediterranean region could be developed.

The meeting will pay particular attention to how regions and cities can help Libya's cities provide public services despite the on-going political crisis in the country. The last ARLEM plenary session, held in Nicosia in January 2015, led to an initiative – funded by the EU – to share knowledge and experience to Libya's local and regional authorities. In the past year, the initiative has focused on the management of water, waste, primary health care, and finances, as well as general administrative skills, with Libyan politicians and officials making study visits to Nicosia (Cyprus), Flanders (Belgium), Murcia (Spain), Vila Real (Portugal) and Malta. In Libya, the mayor of Tripoli, Abdelrauf Beitelmal, has been the driving force behind the cooperation, which Federica Mogherini, the EU's foreign-policy chief, has described as an example of "city diplomacy at its best".

ARLEM was established in 2010 by the European Committee of the Regions to encourage region-to-region and city-to-city cooperation in the Mediterranean region.  The focus on migration reflects the priorities of Malta's six-month presidency of the Council of the EU, which began on 1 January, and develops on an issue that that has been central to many of the discussions at ARLEM since its creation.