Malta and Tunisia have identified one clear option on how they can work together on oil exploration, Foreign Minister Michael Frendo announced yesterday.
Speaking in Parliament during the budget debate, he said that although political discussions were still underway, he had just received a message from Tunisia identifying one clear option of how to progress at foreign ministerial level.
He cautioned, however, that agreement with Tunisia would not be tantamount to discovering oil.
The minister said that Malta's good relations with Tunisia had led to the abandonment of the mine/yours attitude of the past 35 years in oil exploration on part of the continental shelf between the two countries.
This important breakthrough had taken rather long at the expert level, but this was a small price to pay for agreement after 35 years.
He said he would be keeping Parliament informed of developments, irrespective of whether these were successful.
Referring to comments by the opposition, Dr Frendo said it seemed the opposition wanted the government to constantly work with everyone on everything. This was too wide an approach. Malta was no superpower, and the government believed that the country's foreign policy should be focused.
The government looked at the country's realities and addressed problems immediately. On EU funds, Dr Frendo said Malta's efforts had always been to get the best for the country. Negotiations were difficult, but not only had Malta managed to get the best possible funds, it had also convinced the EU that new member states should have the possibility of using funds for the sectors they deemed most important.
The EU had wanted to bind all its members to use the funds for initiatives aimed at reaching the aims of the Lisbon strategy.
Malta had also managed to convince the EU to change its density policy, whereby the union used to dedicate more funds to areas of lower density, which policy would have put Malta at a disadvantage.
The minister said that constant attention was being paid so that when EU laws were transposed into local legislation, no unnecessary measures were imposed on the country.
He insisted that Malta's agenda had to become part of the European agenda.
The working time directive, for example, was to be decided by qualified majority voting. But it was good for the EU to know that there was agreement in Malta on its position, which was for the necessary flexibility to be retained to avoid enormous difficulties in health, tourism and other sectors.
The minister said that it was not just Parliament but also the ministry which lacked human resources. Many ministry officials had left and were now working in EU offices and institutions. These people could help their country from their new positions while remaining loyal to their duties.
On the initiative for the setting up of a Central Mediterranean Forum with representatives from the northern and southern Mediterranean, Dr Frendo said that the aim was for this body to also involve the economic operators of the countries involved.
On illegal migration, he said Malta had worked on several levels, starting from a position where no one acknowledged the country had a problem when, relatively, Malta's problem was overwhelmingly the biggest in Europe.
Malta was assiduous in dealing with the issue and had to fight positions that this was not an EU but an internal issue.
But he agreed that the EU could, and had to, do much more with Malta. Malta had created a conscience on the problem in EU circles and put it on its agenda, but there were moments when he felt the EU was not doing enough.
Malta was determined to continue pushing on the issue because it wanted more. It wanted the EU to link development aid to adherence to article 13 of the Cotonou Agreement which bound signatories to take back illegal immigrants.
Although many had not wanted to listen initially, Malta had been convincing and the EU development commissioner was at the moment visiting African states, telling them they had to respect this article.
Malta's agenda included getting the EU to put pressure on signatories to issue travel documents for illegal immigrants from their countries, enabling their repatriation.
Dr Frendo said he was gratified by the opposition's backing, but would like more backing from civil society.
The incident of the trawler that had picked up illegal immigrants outside Maltese territorial waters, with the government insisting they should not be disembarked in Malta, had been a psychological moment of great importance showing Malta had had enough and would not accept everything first and decide later.
Its message had gone not only to the EU but also to the rest of the world. It had stuck to international obligations in spite of pressure from several international and local quarters to succumb.
Malta had eventually taken four illegal immigrants, with the rest being taken by Spain and Italy. This had been the first example of European burden-sharing. The four immigrants had eventually been repatriated. There had been a large number of such repatriations, especially to Morocco and Egypt.
He said some local societies had still tried to wreck the prospects of the immigrants' resettlement, in spite of the favourable decisions by some European countries. This constituted a serious problem and challenge as well as unacceptable criticism of some reactive Maltese quarters. Dr Frendo said the government's foreign policy would continue to be in line with Maltese interests.
Malta was very careful of its relations with Libya, and was still hoping for a higher level of engagement from it. Good relations also existed with Tunisia and Algeria.
He said that the island's efforts for joint patrols in the Mediterranean was part of the important message that it was defending its territory. But there was still a lot to do to fully address the problem.
Trade, the minister said, was also an important focus as part of Malta's foreign policy.
After the closure of the Malta Tourism Authority's overseas offices, Malta's embassies had been placed at its disposal because it was one government. How Maltese embassies opened doors to entrepreneurs was typefied by the way Malta Enterprise delegations had visited India three times and been introduced to scores of investors in the pharmaceutical sector.
The Foreign Ministry had repeatedly chased Spain for conclusion of the double taxation agreement, which would now become effective in January. Without it an appreciable number of intended Spanish investments in Malta would have fizzled out. A similar agreement with Greece had recently been signed.
SmartCity, too, was an offshoot of contacts initially made by a ministry official posted to Dubai.
Dr Frendo said that in 2007 he would be visiting China and other countries with commercial delegations. Malta, he said, had taken the initiative for the EU to organise a meeting with Arab states, and offered to host the meeting if it was not held in Brussels. The initiative had received the support of the Organisation of African Unity.
Concluding, Dr Frendo said his ministry had now laid down Malta's strategic aims and was putting them into action.
Earlier, Nationalist MP Mario de Marco pointed out that in the first two years of EU membership, Malta saw an absolute record of investment, amounting this year to an average Lm1 million a day, with the manufacturing industry being replaced by the pharmaceutical industry and ICT.
So it was more important than ever before to have a political and economic study on where embassies should open. These were foreign investors' first contact with Malta, and one needed cooperation between embassies and ME more than ever before. A radical look should also be given to consulates, because some consuls, unfortunately, only saw their office as an inherited title.
He said it was important to position Malta in EU countries that wished to establish a stepping-stone to the union, such as India and China.
It was also important to continue sustaining Malta's embassies in countries such as Saudi Arabia and have a more active presence in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Kuwait, because Malta could offer several investment possibilities.
Dr de Marco said that for the European dream to remain a reality, Europe had to remain close to the people.
Programmes existed, but they had to be sought by the people. No one could expect manna from heaven. The Forum Malta fl-Ewropa should play a more active role. It should assist fund hunters and work continuously with Malta's embassy in Brussels.
The EU's initiative to invite MPs from national Parliaments to take part in meetings with MEPs on themes such as security was positive but, unfortunately, Malta's Parliament did not have a permanent office in the European Parliament and this was a lost opportunity for direct contact.
Dr de Marco said it was also important for Malta to be among the countries promoting reform in the EU, because unless the EU was careful, it would end up being a victim of its own success. The union had faced problems with the constitutional treaty, which had been refused by France and the Netherlands.
Dr de Marco said that Malta's DNA was also Mediterranean. So it was important to use its presence in the EU to insist on the need for an EU Mediterranean policy and for Mediterranean problems to be higher on the EU's agenda. Malta should insist that there could not be peace in Europe without peace in the Mediterranean.
In the Barcelona process, the EU had launched the Euro-Mediterranean partnership. There were arguments that this partnership had been a failure. The conflict in Lebanon showed that the EU failed to create security. And in the Palestinian territory, the Barcelona process did not manage to be a point of reference to influence peace between Israel and Palestine following the electoral victory of the Hamas.
Malta, he said, should change the way Europe helped civil society in Arab states. It should not just help the NGOs recognised by the respective governments. There should be an absolute rethinking of how Europe looked at economic reforms in the Mediterranean, analysing the social and political impact of such measures.
It was also important for Malta to continue advancing its policy on the Middle East problem and Palestine. It should follow a policy of equivicinity and not of equidistance.
Europe had to be closer to Malta in its problem of illegal migration. Malta had benefited from Lm900,000 for fuel maintenance of sea patrols and from over €1 million for food and medicine. Joint patrols had taken place, but Europe could do more.
Nationalist MP Mario Galea spoke on Malta's contribution in election observation missions and his experience in such missions.
Even though a small country, Malta was doing its bit in countries of conflict. No country could progress without democracy and respect to human rights, and the EU spent millions of euros on such missions.
Mr Galea said that in Liberia, where there had been years of civil war including ritual killings, the observers had stayed in the UN military camp and lived with peacekeeping troops. For the election to take place, the UN had to send a military mission of 19,000 people costing US$1 billion a year.
He had twice observed an election in Palestine, where he could see the humiliation of checkpoints, with a pregnant woman on her way to hospital having to wait five hours and giving birth to a dead baby at the checkpoint. He could see the cruelty of the wall being built., the hardship, death and humiliation of the Palestinian people.
On the Israeli side of the border, he could feel the terror and fear of suicide attacks, with the people knowing the attacks would happen but not when. In Yemen, two EU observers including a Maltese colleague had been caught in a shooting. There had been the risk that observers would be taken hostages. In taking part in such missions, the Maltese were doing their little bit for democracy.
Nationalist MP Robert Arrigo asked whether the Schengen agreement could change the way visas to North Africans were issued, because Malta got tourism business from these countries.
Unfortunately, a handful of Arabs cast a bad light on everyone, and there was the problem of illegal migration.
During the Frontex patrols, there had been no arrivals. What had happened? Had they stopped? Perhaps they had gone to Sicily?
Illegal migration was an unnecessary burden on Malta. Malta should consider solutions such as that opted for by Spain recently, giving them all the rights of European citizens and allowing them to continue with their trip to Northern Europe.
He paid tribute to soldiers and people employed to look after immigrants. He pointed out that besides the illegal migrants arriving by sea, there were thousands who came by air and became illegal in time, working in the black economy. It would be wrong for these people to impose their customs on the Maltese. Malta was beautiful as it was, and those who did not like it were free to leave. While they were in Malta they had to live by Maltese rules.
He pointed out that although it was good for Malta to do its bit, it had to be careful because the EU had not been very forthcoming with assistance.