Malta boycotts Ahmadinejad speech

Malta was one of several countries to boycott Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s speech at the UN General Assembly in New York, which culminated in a walkout last Thursday.

Foreign Minister Tonio Borg, who is representing Malta at the UN meeting, did not attend the Iranian leader’s speech in the first place, a ministry spokesman told The Sunday Times. Several other country representatives walked out during the controversial speech.

Mr Ahmadinejad sparked fury when he said he believed the US staged the attacks on September 11, 2001, adding there was a theory that “some segments within the US government orchestrated the attack to reverse the declining American economy and its grips on the Middle East, in order also to save the Zionist regime.

“The majority of the American people as well as other nations and politicians agree with this view,” he declared to the astonished chamber.

The US led a Western walkout after Mr Ahmadinejad’s comments on the Al-Qaeda attack on the World Trade Centre, just six kilometres from the UN headquarters. EU delegations quickly followed and Canada boycotted the speech even before it started.

Dr Borg addressed the assembly on Wednesday, saying Malta acknowledged the need to give a greater push to achieving the Millennium Development Goals, which consist of eight targets to eradicate poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease, and engage in partnership for development.

Dr Borg is also having bilateral talks with 12 foreign ministers and meeting a number of other political dignitaries.