Editorial

Is it not strange that in comments Foreign Minister Tonio Borg made at the start of a meeting in Malta between him and his Libyan counterpart, Suleiman Shoumi, no mention was made of offshore oil exploration?

According to an official statement, Dr Borg said progress had been made on pending issues between the two countries and, in fact, an agreement on the avoidance of double taxation was signed. Political and technical talks on other matters were in progress, he added, and these included travel visas, fisheries and illegal immigration. He also said that, although the number of illegal immigrants landing in Malta had decreased, the problem had not been completely solved yet.

All four subjects are of direct interest to the island but if oil exploration was also discussed at the meeting, and it is difficult to imagine that the Maltese side did not raise the matter at all, was it not in the people's interest to be told about it?

Indeed, considering the importance of oil exploration to Malta, many would have naturally expected the minister to give a clear indication of the progress made, if any, in the talks with the Libyan government in the dispute over exploration rights. The fact that he did not mention the subject at all may indicate that no progress was made despite the many declarations in past months that matters were moving in the right direction. If, on the other hand, the matter was raised, then the minister should inform the country of where the matter stands.

For one reason or another, Libya appears to have been dragging its feet in the dispute over exploration rights for far too long. An attempt at speeding up the groundwork for a solution to the dispute was made by Eddie Fenech Adami, when, as President of the Republic, he visited Tripoli in July last year. Dr Fenech Adami said after the meeting that "there is the political will to reach an agreement on how to proceed..."

A mixed commission of experts, which had been thrashing out the technical aspects of a potential joint venture, was scheduled to meet again the following October. By then, the government had been hoping to have a political decision. Then, last October, the Foreign Minister announced that Libya, Italy and Malta were to hold a meeting "in the near future" on the delineation of the continental shelf. His Libyan counterpart had remarked that the problem on the delineation of the maritime border was not directly between Libya and Malta but between Malta, Libya and Italy and Malta, Libya and Tunisia.

Following all the bitter disappointments the island has had in offshore exploration and the excruciatingly slow process in talks with Libya, it will not be altogether surprising if the government may now tend to hold back in announcing any progress in the talks, lest any optimism would be short-lived, as has been the case over a number of declarations made following official talks with that country.

Even so, while caution on the government's part in this regard is fully understandable, the people deserve an account of what is happening, not only in the dispute with Libya but also in the talks the government has had with Tunisia and Italy.

The impression is that there is as yet no light at the end of the tunnel insofar as the possibility of a settlement over oil exploration rights is concerned.