Arab League secretary to visit Malta next week

EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa will be in Malta next week for the opening of the EU-Arab League liaison centre.

The centre, which will be housed at the Floriana offices formerly used by the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development, will be inaugurated on October 14, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman told The Times.

Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said the opening of this office in Malta showed Malta’s EU membership “did not dwarf in any way our special relationship with the Arab world”.

“On the contrary it provides us with a tool to further promote what has been at the heart of our foreign policy. Besides, the reputation and positive goodwill acquired by Malta’s wise move in this regard will serve us well for future initiatives in the same direction, which are already in the pipeline and which will be hopefully brought to fruition,” he said.

EU membership actually put Malta in a stronger position to broker dialogue between the north and the south, he added.