ROME — A ship carrying over 200 African migrants rescued from the Mediterranean last week will be allowed to dock in Malta if other European countries agree to share the responsibility of taking them in, the Maltese government said on Tuesday.

The offer echoes calls in Italy and Spain for other states to help deal with the arrival of thousands of migrants from Africa, and end the current European Union policy of processing asylum seekers in the first country in which they arrive.

The ship, the MV Lifeline, which is run by the German charity Mission Lifeline, rescued 234 people from two rubber dinghies off the western coast of Malta on Thursday, but was unable to dock when both Malta and Italy turned it away.

As fraught negotiations between Malta and its mainland counterparts took place throughout Tuesday, the Maltese government said that four European Union countries had agreed to accept some of the migrants on the ship, while another two were “evaluating the case.”