"It is our responsibility to rescue anybody who is at risk. It is our common humanity, it is our responsibility as human beings to rescue as many [people] as we can in danger," said Leonardo De Chirico on Premier's News Hour.
"The Italian shores are very close to the Libyan shores and Tunisian shores and it's quiet easy - although risky... to come through the Mediterranean, easier than to go through Turkey and Greece and take the longer route, " he added.
More than 8,000 migrants have been picked up trying to cross into Europe since Friday, some fleeing Libya which has had an unstable government since the fall of Colonel Gaddafi in 2011.
Official figures show more than 500 people have died since January, a figure thirty times higher than for the same period last year, and there are fears this number could rise as the weather improves.
Speaking on Premier's News Hour Leonardo De Chirico raised the worry that Italy's resources have been struggling to cope with the sudden influx and there was some resentment being felt by people in the country.
He said: "As soon as they're in Italy, most of them wish to go further north and so it's not a local issue, or a national issue, it's more of a global issue... it involves many African countries, many Middle Eastern countries - so it's a global issue we have to tackle."
Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley interview Leonardo De Chirico here:
