Commonwealth heads of State and of government attending the Malta CHOGM next month will have 78 luxury Volvo cars at their disposal that will come at no cost, the Times of Malta has learnt.

A spokesman for the task force entrusted with the summit’s organisation told this newspaper the vehicles were not purchased and no tender was issued. “The cars are being supplied as part of a sponsorship agreement and there are no related costs,” he said.

The cars will be provided by GasanZammit Motors Ltd. According to the task force, the selection was made after all major car importers and operators were asked to make their proposals.

The same Volvo cars will first be used for the Valletta summit on migration, which will be held at the beginning of next month,. The migration conference will host leaders of the EU member states and Africa.

GasanZammit Motors will be providing 58 Volvo XC60s and 20 Volvo S60s. This means the fleet of luxury cars will be 20 more than the 59 high-end BMWs used for the 2005 CHOGM in Malta. They will be provided to all visiting heads of State and of government as well as to foreign ministers accompanying them. It is not yet known whether Queen Elizabeth II, who is also expected to attend the summit as the head of the Commonwealth, will be also be using one of these cars.

Asked what will happen to the cars once the two international events are over, the CHOGM spokesman said: “More information on what will happen to the cars after the events will be announced in the coming weeks.”

Ten years ago, when the first CHOGM summit was held in Malta, the entire fleet of cars was auctioned, with the proceeds going to the Malta Community Chest Fund. In under three hours all cars were sold, raising almost €5 million.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.