Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said today that during his talks in Tripoli last February he had sought a deal for Malta to buy gas from Libya at the same preferential rates given to Italy.
Speaking in a PBS interview, Dr Gonzi said the government had hoped to strike the deal with a view to using the gas for the power station once it was converted to use gas. During that visit Dr Gonzi had met Muammar Gaddafi and then Libyan Prime Minister Baghdadi.
Speaking following his talks with new Libyan Prime Minister Mahmoud Jibril, Dr Gonzi said the two countries had agreed to reconstitute a joint commission to discuss relations between the two countries. The commission will focus on the Libyan provisional government's immediate priorities, which are security, national reconciliation, the building of democratic institutions and humanitarian aid.
The commission will also pick up other outstanding issues, including, Dr Gonzi said, oil exploration in waters which both countries claim to have jurisdiction over.
The issue had previously been discussed with the Gaddafi government but no agreement was reached. Dr Gonzi said the issue would be raised again, with a possible solution being joint exploration.
LONG RUNNING ISSUE
The issue of oil exploration in the waters between Malta and Libya has been outstanding for more than 30 years, with Muammar Gaddafi having sent a gunboat and a submarine to stop an Italian oil rig from conducting oil exploration for Malta on the Medina Bank in 1981.
The issue was subsequently taken to the International Court of Justice, which in 1985 decided only on a small part of the area between the two countries.
Talks between Libya and Malta have since them been going on and off, without any apparent progress, even though Foreign Minister Tonio Borg said in 2008 that a mixed commission between the two countries was moving from general matters to details.
Similar delineation issues also exist between Malta and Tunisia and Malta and Italy.
Malta recently issued a fresh call for applications from oil companies wishing to be granted licences for oil exploration licences in waters around Malta.
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
Dr Gonzi also said that during his talks with Prime Minister Jibril yesterday, the Libyan delegation explained how documents being discovered in Libya showed that immigration had been organised by the Gaddafi regime to create difficulties in Europe, including Malta.