Libyan minister's commitments delay tripartite meeting

A meeting between Malta, Libya and Italy originally scheduled to be held tomorrow has been postponed because the Libyan Foreign Minister has other diplomatic commitments, the government said yesterday.

The meeting, planned to be held in Malta, would have brought together Libyan Foreign Minister Abdurrahaman Mohamed Shalgam and his Italian and Maltese counterparts, Franco Frattini and Tonio Borg, to discuss illegal immigration and oil exploration in the waters between the three countries.

The tripartite meeting was announced by Dr Borg during a parliamentary budget debate last month.