This week the Ministry of Foreign Affairs launched a document that sets out the 20 strategic objectives of Malta's foreign policy. The document, the first of its kind, will serve as a guiding framework for Malta's political action in international affairs.
In formulating these objectives we did not ignore what has been achieved in the past, over the years, particularly since this country achieved full sovereign statehood in 1964. Our aim is to provide, in a spirit of renewal, stronger direction and greater focus to Malta's foreign policy.
The process leading to the finalisation of this document started 18 months ago and follows an inclusive consultation process involving Malta's ambassadors, high commissioners and permanent representatives, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials and all members of the diplomatic service.
The consultation was also extended externally to the House of Representatives' Standing Committee on Foreign and European Affairs.
Malta's perspective in foreign policy stems from our own realities. We are a country that wholly forms part of Europe and wholly forms part of the Mediterranean. We are an island state.
We attained sovereign statehood within living memory, after centuries of colonial rule. We are on a cultural frontier between Europe and North Africa, speaking a language that fuses Semitic and Romance. We are necessarily foreign trade oriented.
Our foreign policy must reflect our realities and our Maltese and European values. These values fashion our positions in the world today: solidarity; respect for democracy, the rule of law and human rights; a humanitarian approach; a propensity to giving.
These are values that characterise our society and are historically firmly rooted in a millennial formation that has fashioned our value set and our way of life. They remain necessarily dynamic.
The context, but not the essence, of all these elements has now changed with Malta's membership of the European Union. This new context provides us with new challenges that require new approaches. EU membership places us firmly within the historical process of the construction of a post-Cold War united Europe. It frees the mind from the constraints of a small territory and provides our citizens with a continent in which they can, by right, travel, study, work and reside.
It provides us with the tools to influence decision-making in European policies including common foreign and security policy and, therefore, enables us to strengthen our relevance and enhance our weight in international affairs in all contexts, regional, bilateral, multilateral and global. Strength and relevance in a multilateral and/or regional context feeds strength and relevance in bilateral relations and vice-versa.
The formulation of strategic objectives of Malta's foreign policy must therefore be seen within the context of the new reality of EU membership and, equally, within the reality of a globalised world economy, increased competition, new emerging markets and industrial powerhouses, a defunct Cold War paradigm, a reform and review of the United Nations Organisation, the emergence of terrorism as a global threat, religious fundamentalism and the rise of illegal immigration.
Malta must be supple and fast to adjust to these new realities. It must be proactive internationally, retaining a definite and clear focus.
This document purports to be a framework document that sets out the general lines of the strategic objectives of Malta's foreign policy.
It is a dynamic document meant to serve as a guiding framework for our political action in international affairs that must be open to review, updating and revision in the light of changing circumstances.
The strategic objectives in the document are not listed in an order of precedence. The document will be the basis for a rolling action plan for the implementation of these objectives.
In turn, this action plan will serve as the basis for structured planning for Malta's embassies and also its consular networks. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' high level meeting, planned for April, will specifically focus on the formulation of this action plan.
(The full text of the document can be downloaded from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' website at www.mfa.gov.mt)
Dr Frendo is Minister of Foreign Affairs.