Malta’s foreign policy will stick to the course plotted by the previous administration while exploring opportunities beyond European borders, Foreign Minister George Vella said yesterday.
Dr Vella assured ambassadors there would be no great policy shake-ups, with foreign policy based on continuity, cooperation and commercial diplomacy.
Neutrality, although likely to be redefined during an eventual Constitutional assembly, would continue to be a key tenet of Maltese foreign policy.
Embassies needed to become “more fruitful”, Dr Vella said, with a greater emphasis on trade and commercial diplomacy, and the Government would be assessing its current spread of embassies to ensure Malta was making the most of its limited resources.
The newly-created EU Affairs Ministry would give the Foreign Ministry more space to strengthen relations with Malta’s non-EU Mediterranean neighbours, he said. It would also mean a more concerted effort to strengthening ties with countries such as the US, India and China, the minister added.
Although EU affairs will be entrusted to Louis Grech, bilateral relations between member states will continue to form part of Dr Vella’s portfolio.
The two ministries will also work closely in the run-up to Malta’s six-month stint as president of the European Council in 2017. The presidency, currently Ireland’s, will entail, among other things, coordinating 1,500 meetings over the six-month period.
“It’s a mammoth task for a country like Malta, and we’ll need every bit of diplomatic expertise that we have,” Dr Vella said.
Irish Ambassador Jim Hennessy subsequently told the minister that Ireland would gladly help Malta showcase her abilities.
Dr Vella, who will be giving up his post as rapporteur for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean’s ad hoc Middle East committee, asked ambassadors to not read too much into the sequence of diplomatic visits when it was announced.
The new Maltese Government wanted to further entrench Malta’s position within the EU, but that would not mean remaining silent.
“We are in no way sceptics, but we will fight our ground within the EU on issues such as tax harmonisation and greater member state solidarity on migration issues,” Dr Vella said.