Dalli to discuss visas problem in Tripoli

Foreign Minister John Dalli said yesterday he is planning a weekend visit to Libya for meetings with his Libyan counterpart to sort out problems being faced by Maltese nationals who applied for visas to visit Libya.

Mr Dalli told a meeting of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee that he had a meeting regarding the visas issue with Libyan ambassador Ali Nageem on Monday.

He said that while there seemed to be no problems with the issuing of single entry visas by Libya, multi-entry visas required invitations from the Libyan side and the problems involved mostly those Maltese who did not have their position in Libya regularised - such as possession of a work permit.

However, he said, adjustments needed to be made by Libya.

He pointed out that the current level of flexibility in Libya was amazing and when such problems were met the country quickly changed legislation to accommodate new situations.

The problems being met, Mr Dalli said, were not politically motivated.

He said that there were no bottlenecks from the Maltese side and visas were being issued smoothly within two days of application.

Where possible, Malta had removed the need for Libyans to require a visa. A Libyan holding a valid Schengen visa did not require a visa to visit Malta.

Earlier in the meeting, committee chairman Jason Azzopardi said that at a meeting with Mr Nageem the ambassador told him be would be leaving his post at the end of June.

Before then, Mr Nageem should be addressing the committee on relations between the two countries.