VALLETTA, Sept 25, 2008 (AFP) - Malta on Thursday hailed an immigration pact agreed by EU interior ministers in Brussels that will help small member states deal with influxes of illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, a report said.

'This pact... addresses the disproportionate pressures being felt by countries such as Malta,' Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici was quoted as saying.

'The EU is sending a clear signal that it is united and will address this problem in a firm and determined way,' he said in an interview with the Times of Malta's online edition.

The European Union interior ministers endorsed sweeping new guidelines for managing immigration, fighting illegal immigration and forming partnerships with countries people leave or travel through to get to Europe.

The non-binding pact also seeks to make border controls more effective while building better asylum policy.

Malta, the EU's smallest member state, with a population of some 400,000, is witnessing growing numbers of arrivals, mainly African economic migrants, each year.

The latest official count said there were 2,289 arrivals aboard 74 boats from January to August, against 1,379 for the same period last year.

'We simply do not have the resources to cope with another overwhelming influx of asylum seekers reaching our shores,' Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said in a recent interview.

Thursday's agreement paves the way for legal immigration to be based on a state's needs and ability to welcome people, while combatting illegal immigration and ensuring that foreigners who do not have papers are removed.

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg had warned that Malta was prepared to take the issue of burden-sharing to the EU Council if no agreement was reached.