Malta has pledged €110,000 in aid to the Palestinian Authority as both sides agreed yesterday to set up a joint cooperation council.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, on the last leg of his three-day visit in the Middle East, invited his Palestinian counterpart to send over to Malta a political delegation to start the ball rolling.
The aid will cover areas of mutual interest such as education, tourism, infrastructure and health and includes bursaries for Palestinian youngsters to come and study in Malta. The issue of migration cropped up in the talks as Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah thanked Malta for saving the lives of 41 nationals in last week’s boat tragedy that resulted in the death of between 50 and 200 people.
Dr Muscat said the Palestinian embassy had cooperated with the Maltese authorities to help identify the rescued people, who were Palestinians and Syrians.
The 41 Palestinians, mostly families, are being held in a separate location since their identity has been established and the Palestinian government is trying to help relocate them to other countries where they have relatives. Dr Muscat said it was impossible at this stage to verify whether any of the dead people were Palestinian.
In Ramallah, Dr Muscat then visited Pharmacare, a pharmaceutical company with German and Palestinian investment. Palestinian owner Bassim Khury also owns a pharmaceutical company in Malta, which Dr Muscat described as the first Palestinian investment in the country.
Earlier, the Prime Minister had a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres during which Dr Muscat stressed Malta’s multilateral approach to foreign relations.
In a brief introduction at the President’s residence in Jerusalem, Dr Muscat said Malta was willing to help Israel in its relations with the EU.
He said it was important for diplomatic and formal relations to translate themselves into “a good working relationship”.
Dr Muscat yesterday also visited the Quartet offices, managed by former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair. The Quartet is working on a parallel plan to the peace talks to encourage investment in the region.