Distinguished guests

Ladies and gentlemen

It gives me great pleasure to say a few words to round up this memorable encounter at the Maison de l’Exportateur between Tunisian and Maltese businessmen during my state visit to Tunisia at the kind invitation of President Ben Ali.  A special thanks goes to the organisers of this encounter which I am sure will continue to strengthen our commercial ties.

The relations between our two countries are excellent.  There is much business potential between the Peoples of Malta and Tunisia, especially in the fields of tourism, financial services and telecommunications.  I am optimistic that we will be able to join forces to identify more and more niche markets now that a Maltese-Tunisian Business Council has been created.  We have already had an opportunity this morning to exchange investment profiles and interests.  We need to transform that level of intensity to the service of our mutual benefit.  Our deep friendship needs to be matched by a quantitative and qualitative intensification of direct investments and partnerships between Tunisia and Malta, both on our own turf and in third countries.

Today, as in the mid 19^th century, economic necessity and entrepreneurship remain the main ‘push’ factors behind Maltese attempts at seeking new horizons.  Several Maltese companies have chosen to invest in Tunisia, in some instances decentralizing from Malta.  Tunisia was then, and is now, a natural choice over more distant destinations for the same reasons that we are here today.  Suffice to say that already in the late 19^th century when Mediterranean maritime commerce was thriving, Malta was already serving as a hub, a redistribution base towards Europe.

Today thanks to the renewed impetus that has been given to our strategic relationship during the visit of President Ben Ali to Malta last year, our cooperation has been reactivated into a multilevel one and reciprocal technical visits in agriculture, fisheries, tourism and maritime affairs have intensified.  Malta’s reality today is very similar to Tunisia’s – it is a European and Mediterranean reality in a globalised world where we are all faced with similar problems of volatile oil prices, fierce competition, trade liberalization, unemployment and security concerns.

As a member state of the European Union, Malta strives to bring the Mediterranean dimension to the Union’s agenda.  Such actions demonstrate that in Malta, our Arab Mediterranean partners may find a trusted interlocutor in the European Union.  Malta will continue to put the message across to the European Union that it is also in the European Union’s interest to develop trade and investment in North Africa and the Middle East, as this guarantees peace and stability.

Only true partnership between the European Union and the Mediterranean states can fulfil the southern Mediterranean’s legitimate aspirations to achieve the level of development enjoyed in the north; the impetus can only come from us Mediterraneans.  It is happening but not systematically, not in all domains and not quickly enough.  Some recent successes, such as the 5+5 tourism initiative in Tunisia which formulated concrete targets to be achieved in the field of cultural tourism, are notable.  Progress has also been recorded improving the business climate, liberalising trade, upgrading public institutions and effecting structural reforms.

Business fora such as this one can provide the necessary impetus to mutual investment in our two countries.  Such encounters can be enlarged to business encounters between immediate neighbours from the region.  In line with one of the strategic objectives of Malta’s foreign policy, we have launched the concept of setting up a Central Mediterranean Economic Forum between Tunisia, Libya, Italy and Malta.  The four countries form the heart of the central Mediterranean area, which historically has seen very high trade patterns between them.  When taking into account the population of Sicily extracted from the population of Italy, the global potential market resulting from the formation of the proposed forum would amount to about 22 million people.

To conclude, in mapping out our vision of the Mediterranean we should acknowledge that we may have different perspectives and should not allow diversity to be a hurdle to a common vision. 

In the words of Tunisian Prime Minister Gannouchi in his opening address of the second EuroMed Forum of Ministers of Economy and Finance held in Tunisia last weekend, “the construction of a vast economic space encompassing the EU and the southern and eastern countries of the Mediterranean is a necessity imposed by history, geography and the intensity of the cultural and economic ties between the two banks of the Mediterranean.  It is a necessity that comes from international mutations and of the irreversible process of globalization”.  “No tangible results can be achieved….however much effort is made by the southern Mediterranean countries, without the active and complementary support of EU partners”.

Malta and Tunisia are neighbours.  We have a special responsibility to work together.  It is possible to work together to achieve great things for our Peoples and for a Mediterranean based on peace and stability.

Thank you.