December tri-partite meeting on immigration and oil exploration

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and Libyan Foreign Minister Abdurrahman Mohamed Shalgem will be meeting in Malta on December 5 to discuss illegal immigration and oil exploration in the waters between the three countries.

Speaking during the budget debate, Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said Malta would endeavour to become involved in the new situation that would evolve from the two agreements.

Dr Borg said immigration was of great concern to many and he had brought the subject up at every single meeting of the council of ministers. The government had taken the stand to refuse immigrants found outside Malta's territorial waters.

Malta had been among the first to put immigration on the agenda. The problem of immigration existed before EU membership, but after membership Malta had a better chance of receiving assistance.

Speaking on Frontex, Dr Borg called for a debate on whether Malta should continue to form part of this organisation. Without this set-up Malta would have to shoulder the whole expense of patrols.

The burden-sharing pact was the first of its kind to refer to voluntary aid, even for those who benefitted from humanitarian protection. As things stood Malta had to beg other countries for help. Things could remain as they were with this pact, however, if countries chose not to participate, they might feel some moral deficit.

Since 2002, there had been between 200 and 300 refugees, according to the definition of the word "refugees" in the Geneva Convention, although others might have been eligible for protection.

Thirty-one immigrants had chosen to return to their country under the assisted voluntary return scheme, the bulk of which was funded by the EU.

Oil exploration had been among the priorities of his ministry in the past few months. He pointed out that this was the first time that concrete proposals had been made on the delineation of the waters for oil exploration purposes, adding that failure of talks on this subject could see the countries concerned taking their case to the International Court of Justice.

There seemed to be more question marks on exploration zones with Italy than with Libya.

Despite being the smallest EU country, Malta always had its voice heard, especially in matters which affected it. Examples included the detention of illegal immigrants, health care and the common agricultural policy.

Malta had the highest absorption rate of EU-funded-projects between 2000 and 2006: 82 per cent. The sum of €200 million had been approved for projects over and above funds such as those for the Socrates and Erasmus programmes, and for dealing with illegal immigration.

The country had the narrowest wage gap between men and women, received the most foreign direct investment from the 15 former EU member states, and had the highest rate of people over 45 who perceive themselves as healthy. Malta also placed second when it came to e-government online.

Referring to the kidnapping of Maltese-born George Scerri in Nigeria, Dr Borg said the government felt it should help secure his release even though he no longer held a Maltese passport.

Malta was European with a strong Mediterranean vocation. The minister thanked his predecessor Michael Frendo for his efforts on the international scene. The government was adamant that the EU-Arab conference would not be the last. Indeed the Egyptian government had asked Malta for help in organising the next conference.

Dr Borg said that successive Maltese administrations had supported anything good done in the Mediterranean. Malta had struggled for the Mediterranean Union to have its secretariat in Malta and although this had not happened, it had been granted a deputy secretariat. The Arab side had also highly appreciated Malta's support for the Arab League to have an observer status in the Mediterranean Union.

Also in Malta in June there had been a meeting of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Palestinian People, based on the fact that the rapporteur was Maltese. This proposal had raised eyebrows, but its outcome had well vindicated the efforts. Malta had also agreed to help train Palestinian police officers, to fork out $1 million towards this aim and to open up a diplomatic presence in Ramallah together with Cyprus. This office should be operative by the beginning of January.

The German government would be manning a cathedra in the Mediterranean Academy. This project was a worthwhile one because most of the 400 academy graduates so far would probably be ending up in various countries' foreign services. The Maltese government had steadfastly kept up its relations with Serbia, but had abstained in the process of hauling the Kosovo issue before the international court. It had subsequently recognised Kosovo.

On legal, oil exploration and fishing issues with Libya, Dr Borg said he was holding out no expectations.

He had pushed for meaningful meetings between Malta, Libya and Italy on the illegal migration problem. There was an agreement for Italy to spend €250 million a year for the next 20 years in return for Libya's cooperation, and for Italy to give rescue launches to help Libya guard its 12-mile territorial limit.

On fishing it had been agreed that a number of Maltese fishermen would be able to fish in specific Libyan waters. This went to show that international relations amounted to more than just conferences, seminars and contacts but also concrete projects.

For the first time ever a Libyan official had come to Malta for search-and-rescue training with people from other countries.

On relations with the US, Minister Borg said Malta had supported the international ship-boarding agreement. Besides the double-taxation agreement, the visa waiver agreement from next January 1, was a very significant milestone. Malta was also grateful to the US for taking more than 200 migrants, especially through the good offices of US ambassador Molly Bordonaro.

Relations with China were dynamic, not static. Indeed it could be said that an agreement or other with China was signed almost every year, with two this year, including the waiving of visas for holders of diplomatic or service passports.

Also in an advanced stage of negotiations was an agreement on the guarantee of investment, which was very important for potential investors in the respective countries and would probably be signed in 2009. Malta would be participating in the Expo 2010 in China.

Malta had 25 embassies on foreign soils, but was now in the process of rationalising the system, closing or reducing the size of embassies in neighbouring countries. There would be a consulate in Istanbul by the end of the year to issue visas. But the most important agreement had been reached with Spain - to send Maltese field officers to Spanish embassies to work out of Spanish embassies. The agreement had been signed in July and would be started in Serbia and Algeria. Malta had also signed two agreements for private companies to handle visa requests in Russia and China.

On Malta's membership of the Partnership for Peace programme, Dr Borg said the Constitution of Malta spelt out what Malta could not do but gave no explanation of neutrality. The Pfp would be discussed in the House standing committee on European and foreign affairs.

One important consideration was that the PfP also embraced the Russian federation.

The government had never forgotten Maltese migrants overseas. Citizenship status had been amended three times in 1989, 2000 and 2007. It had first been extended to people who had been born in Malta but emigrated, then to the first foreign-born, and ultimately to all offspring of Malta-born parents. These three reforms had benefited 13,000 persons.

Talks on social security with New Zealand had been stalled for some time, but eventually restarted to help migrants who had returned to Malta to claim social benefits.

Dr Borg said the budget featured an increase of 50 per cent in direct financial aid to developing countries, amounting to €330,000. This, besides scholarships and relief on social security contributions to students coming from those countries.

On issues of global warming Dr Borg said that Malta's expert ambassador, Michael Zammit Cutajar, was to become the chairman of an ad hoc working group. This had originally been a Maltese initiative of 20 years ago, which the UN had adopted a Maltese-proposed resolution on climate change.

Concluding, Dr Borg said that over the years the Maltese government had taken initiatives and come up with ideas and concrete proposals on the international scene. Malta's voice had not been ignored, in the full knowledge that it was a country in Europe but with a strong Mediterranean vocation.

Earlier, Michael Gonzi (PN) said the Maltese Parliament had steadfastly worked for the setting up of a Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly that would bring together the various Parliaments around this sea on a level platform. The assembly had been formed in 2005, and its first meeting in Amman had acceded to Malta's request for the assembly's headquarters to be based in Malta.

The inauguration ceremony had not only highlighted Malta's efforts in this regard but also the work it could do to push forward the assembly's targets.

The assembly's work was based on three main aspects: a special task force, committees and assembly. Committees established the projects to be worked on by the special task force, which in turn became the subjects of resolutions and were finally approved by the assembly.

Dr Gonzi said Maltese parliamentarians had been regularly involved in the assembly's projects. One of the most important points to come out of the Malta conference was that the assembly must be the main organiser towards the support of illegal immigrants while working for the reduction of illegal migration.

The Maltese delegation at the conference had contributed to several resolutions. Indeed Malta had been recognised for its efforts in setting up a Mediterranean identity.

Concluding, Dr Gonzi augured that in the light of the setting up the Mediterranean Union both organisations would strengthen their cooperation towards more positive developments in the Mediterranean Sea.

Michael Frendo (PN) recalled that last February Malta had succeeded in bringing together representatives of the EU and Arab League on how to cooperate to strengthen their relations. This achievement had taken on more meaning because of the different economic and democratic models on the two sides. This did not mean that any judgment should be passed on the way either side did things.

The whole process had been set going by Malta in its first four years of EU membership. Malta was still the only "new" entrant to the EU that had come up with such an important initiative which it had developed itself, and which had been accepted and activated.

The Malta conference had attracted very good attendance from both the EU and the Arab world, a consensus that had been well worth the efforts at organising the conference. It had initiated a momentum that was continually growing.

This had been the first meeting that was not conditioned by the Palestinian issue, even less than the Euro-Med conference.

Dr Frendo said Malta was adamant that peace in the Middle East was indeed possible. The importance of such peace was borne out by the way the issue was continuously conditioning Euro-Arab relations.

The Malta conference had discussed global warming, energy and its pricing, extremism and the rapprochement of cultures - all items of relevance to all peoples on both sides.

The conclusions of the meeting were important in their own right, a success for Maltese diplomacy that had culminated in the Malta Declaration. It was gratifying to note that the impetus of the Malta meeting had since continued unabated.

Discussions at the Malta meeting on energy and security of energy had shown that the EU had direct contact with major energy-supplying nations. This had sent a clear message to another major energy supplier, Russia.

Malta's role was thus extending well beyond Mediterranean shores, enhancing dialogue between sides that did not always see eye to eye on important issues. Unless dialogue was allowed to fill the space between the two blocs, that space would almost certainly be filled by extremism. It was up to each bloc to ensure that this would not happen, he concluded.