Government seeking oil 'breakthrough'

The government is seeking a breakthrough in talks with Libya over oil exploration during President Eddie Fenech Adami's meeting with Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi today.

Dr Fenech Adami will be travelling to Libya this morning with Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg and Social Policy Minister John Dalli.

The agenda includes issues such as illegal immigration, tax cooperation and a cooperation agreement on health services, which Mr Dalli is expected to sign with his counterpart today.

However, a spokesman for the Foreign Affairs Ministry said the government is primarily hoping to obtain a breakthrough on the long-standing issue of joint oil exploration in the border areas, which have been a bone of contention between the two countries for decades.

Dr Borg had already hinted at the agreement in Parliament earlier last month following a meeting he had in April with Libya's Deputy Prime Minister Mohamed Ali al-Huwayj.

During that meeting, Dr Borg's first visit abroad after being appointed Foreign Minister, Malta restated its preference to jointly explore one of the disputed areas rather than going to the international court as had happened in 1984. Libya seems to have agreed and committed itself to have its experts thrash out the technical details surrounding a prospective joint venture with Maltese counterparts.

Over the years, countless such meetings were held between officials from both sides on the matter but little substantial progress was ever registered. In today's meeting with Col Gaddafi, who, ultimately, has the last word on such a high-level matter, the government is hoping to move beyond discussions on the lines of similar agreements Libya reached with neighbouring Tunisia.

In an interview with The Sunday Times, the Libyan Ambassador to Malta, Saad El Shlmani, appeared optimistic about the prospect of reaching an agreement this time round, especially in view of skyrocketing oil prices on the international market.

The escalating trend in the price of fossil fuels also led Libya to sign an agreement with France just over two weeks ago for cooperation on nuclear energy, reportedly intended to power a series of desalination plants the Jamahiriya intends to built.

It does not seem the government has any intention of raising the issue with Libya despite reports in the past weeks of radioactive leaks in three separate nuclear stations in France.

The meeting today comes as Libya is in the midst of a serious diplomatic row with Switzerland over the arrest by Swiss police of Col Gaddafi's youngest son Hannibal and his wife after the latter allegedly assaulted two of their maids in a Zurich hotel.

As a result, Libya's shipping company announced an oil boycott on Switzerland, which buys half of its oil from the north African state, while two Swiss nationals were arrested by Libyan police, charged with immigration offences and remanded in custody.