Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said yesterday he had received an invitation to visit Azerbaijan but is not sure whether he would be going.
“I still don’t know if we will be visiting. It is still more than a month away and I don’t think any other prime ministers used to announce their appointments so far in advance,” he said, adding the invitation might clash with a visit to Malta by a head of State.
Azeri news reported that Dr Muscat would be attending a Global Shared Societies Forum in Baku next month. It is also reporting that he will be meeting Azeri officials when the President of Kyrgyzstan, Almazbek Atambayev, will be present.
The reports coincide with a controversy over how Enemalta hedged oil purchases from the Azeri State-owned oil company Socar following “direction” by Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi.
Dr Muscat was in Azerbaijan in December when he met President Ilham Aliyev to sign a memorandum of understanding on strategic cooperation in the oil and gas sector.
He was asked about the Azeri visit reports after the launch of a new private-public partnership aimed at helping businesses tap the international market. Trade Malta, Dr Muscat said, marked the realisation of another promise made by the government. The new entity is 51 per cent State owned with the remaining 49 per cent belonging to the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.
Chamber president David Curmi, who has been appointed chairman of the entity, said Trade Malta would offer guidance to all locally-based companies that wanted to make the most of broader possibilities overseas. This, he said, would include forming part of international franchises, increasing exports, forming joint ventures and attracting business prospects to the island.
“This is an executive agency dedicated to assisting companies, irrespective of size or experience, to internationalise their operations and tap new markets,” he said, adding that the country would have to look outwards for “lasting economic growth”.
This was not limited to the EU’s single market, he pointed out. In fact, the entity’s first trade mission would be held in Algeria in two months’ time. A public call for interested businesses wishing to join the mission has already been issued and Mr Curmi said the feedback had been positive and the businesses would be paired up with Algerian counterparts.
The mission will deal with the oil and gas trade, tourism, food production, ICT and more.