Prime Minister Joseph Muscat will this afternoon address an international conference in Baku, Azerbaijan, on his second visit to that country in less than a year.
The ‘3rd Global Baku Forum’ is organised by the Nizami Genjavi International Centre, a national institution financed by the Azeri government and guided by an international board of trustees.
Dr Muscat’s trip to Azerbaijan was revealed by Times of Malta last Saturday.
After failing to reply to questions sent earlier during the week, the OPM told Times of Malta that Dr Muscat will be the keynote speaker on the theme ‘The European Union and its Neighbourhood’.
Dr Muscat’s spokesman said the conference will be addressed by a number of international dignitaries, mostly former politicians, including former US secretary of state Henry Kissinger and former UN secretary general General Boutros Boutros-Ghali.
Any other media organisation can get accreditation
The presidents of Bulgaria and Macedonia will also be speaking at the two-day conference.
Asked whether the Maltese media had been invited to cover Dr Muscat’s trip, the PM’s spokesman said State media – PBS and the Department of Information – were accompanying the Prime Minister. “Any other media organisation can get accreditation and cover the conference independently,” the spokesman said.
The announcement of another visit by Dr Muscat to Azerbaijan was accompanied by political bickering between the government and the Opposition.
In a statement, the PN questioned the “second secret visit” by Dr Muscat to Baku and asked what Dr Muscat’s “personal interest” was in keeping these visits under wraps.
The PN said that so far even Dr Muscat’s “closest” minister, Konrad Mizzi, had failed to give information in Parliament and to the media on how many times he had visited Azerbaijan since he became minister.
According to the PN, this raises more suspicions following the National Audit Office report on the procurement of fuel from Azeri state company Socar following the direct intervention of Dr Mizzi.
In a counter-statement, the government accused the Opposition of being detached from what was going on.
The government said the Prime Minister had told Times of Malta in an interview that he was considering an invitation to visit Baku again.
Stating that only last week, a similar visit was made by the French President, the government said Dr Muscat was committed to continue to do work to bring more investment and jobs to Malta.
Dr Muscat’s first visit to Azerbaijan took place last December.
During that visit, Dr Muscat, who was accompanied by Energy Minister Konrad Mizzi, held direct talks with the President of the Azerbaijani Republic Ilham Aliyev and a memorandum of understanding on energy cooperation between the two countries was signed.