Irregular migration is biggest problem - Foreign Minister

Irregular migration was Malta's biggest problem at the moment, stretching it to the limit and requiring more understanding from others to help resolve it, Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg told 90 honorary consuls from 49 countries yesterday.

Addressing the launch of Malta's Consular Representations Conference in St Julians, he spoke about the importance of visibility for Malta, internationally, urging its "flag bearers" to participate in major national events to give the country more prominence.

Visibility was also necessary in their respective media to highlight Malta's successes, such as the SmartCity project, which they visited yesterday, and its problems, the biggest being illegal immigration.

Dr Borg said the functions of an honorary consul were representation, care of the Maltese community in their consular district and promotion of tourism, investments, trade and cultural cooperation, areas that needed considerable effort to generate employment and well-being in Malta.

The country had to expand its consular network to reach new and unexplored markets in Africa and Latin America, he told the honorary consuls.

He said there also had to be more synergy among consuls in a given country. Dr Borg also suggested that consuls in a country would come together to examine initiatives and activities they could share.

The goal was also to place Malta's global network of honorary consuls and expertise at the disposal of the Maltese business sector.

Dr Borg welcomed more businessmen from their countries to invest, do business and exploit Malta's position as a financial, trading, logistics and high-tech manufacturing hub in Southern Europe.

The conference is focusing on business and trade relations with Malta and the consuls are engaging in 450 one-to-one meetings with business representatives.

During their visit to SmartCity Malta, CEO Claudio Grech briefed the honorary consuls on the key objectives and development of the ICT and media cluster leading to establishing the first self-sustained business township in the region.

They were told that the construction phase of the first ready-to-operate office block, SCM01, providing 12,000 square meters of office space with intelligent infrastructure, commenced in November 2008 and was earmarked for completion in 2010.

Mr Grech explained SmartCity Malta's committed vision to develop a unique destination for all businesses, whether international, regional or local, adding that the honorary consuls had a central role to play in relaying the information on this development in their respective countries of origin.