I refer to the story titled Maltese Scheme Meets Resistance Down Under (August 20). It is to be noted that when the proposal was first made by Minister Dolores Cristina during the Convention for Maltese Living Abroad held in Malta in March, it was met with great enthusiasm by all those present, the majority of whom were coming from Australia. On the fringes of that convention we also held meetings with delegates to explain all the proposals put forward by the ministry and the reaction was also very positive.

The scholarship scheme laun­ched earlier this month is aimed at all Maltese communities living abroad, including Australia. The scholarships offered are in line with those offered under the MGSS Undergraduate Scholarship Scheme for Maltese students, which has just been launched. This means that the scheme treats students up to third generations, who might have Maltese parents, exactly as it treats students born and living in Malta.

The only difficulty that was mentioned to the ministry was that in the case of Australia there might be some difficulties with recognition of degrees offered by the University of Malta and we promised that we would work on this issue.

Prof. Maurice Cauchi is also aware that the ministry is working on other initiatives launched at the Malta Convention that will profit Maltese communities abroad, including the Maltese community in Australia.