The opening of the International Institute for Justice and the Rule of Law put Malta on the map as a country that “is safe and has competent people”, according to Foreign Minister George Vella.

He said the institute’s mission was to provide rule-of-law-based training to lawmakers, the police, prosecutors, judges, correctional officers and other stakeholders in the justice sector.

It will focus mainly on training to address terrorism and related transnational criminal activities within a rule of law framework.

The institute is expected to collaborate closely with the United Nations and other relevant international and non-governmental organisations. It will initially focus on countries in north, west and east Africa and the Middle East, paying particular attention to supporting countries in transition.

Dr Vella said Malta shrugged off competition from Tunisia for the setting up of the institute.

Although, initially, the office in Malta was meant to be a temporary one, the government secured a permanent presence, Dr Vella said.

This was a clear endorsement of Malta’s constructive regional role, he said, adding that the island would be taking active steps to ensure the vision and goals of the institute were fully achieved.

He said the government had offered the Auberge D’Angleterre in Cospicua as the institute’s permanent office. However, works needed to be undertaken to refurbish it and transform it into a modern training facility. In the meantime, the institute and its interim secretariat will be based at the University of Malta’s Valletta campus.

Dr Vella said Malta would not only sit on the institute’s board of governors but would also be leading its secretariat.

He thanked all those who contributed for the institute to be based here, particularly the United States Embassy in Malta.

Malta is one of the institute’s co-founders together with Algeria, France, Italy, Jordan, Morocco, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Tunisia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the US.

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