OPR- Tuesday, 4th July, 2006

Your Excellency

Distinguished guests

Allow me first to express my deep gratitude to you personally and to the People of Tunisia for the warm and generous welcome which has been extended to us since our arrival in your beautiful country.  Our visit here also allows me to witness at first hand the remarkable efforts and tangible results you have achieved through constant and planned investment in education and targeted training in human resources, which you always rightly professed to be the most valuable of all resources and the only true guarantor for human development.

Since your visit to Malta last year, Tunisia can be proud of several success stories it has achieved under your able leadership – the successful hosting of the World Summit on the Information Society, Tunisia’s nomination to head the World Tourism Organisation, your election to the newly constituted Human Rights Council, your continuous efforts to give new impetus to the Arab Maghreb Union and the hosting of a first Five-Plus-Five in tourism which Malta had proposed in the last Five-Plus-Five Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Valletta in June 2005. 

Excellency

History and geography have given Tunisia and Malta a shared legacy including our Pheonician and Carthaginian heritage.  Our two countries share common experiences – Malta and Tunisia have actively pursued policies to enhance regional peace and stability; they are both striving to promote the aspirations of the peoples of the Mediterranean in international fora, working to secure prosperity and a better future for our peoples.

This shared legacy brings with it a shared responsibility in the central Mediterranean, in the Euro-Mediterranean space and in the various processes of regional integration, such as the Barcelona Process and the Five-Plus-Five.  In these contexts, we should strive to realise concrete projects together including within the ambit of the European Neighbourhood Policy, to develop a true regional partnership aimed at socio-economic development of regions under such initiatives as Interreg. We need to identify practical solutions which serve our mutual interests, aimed at consolidating Euro-Mediterranean economic cooperation in the Mediterranean basin.

The tragic human catastrophe which we are witnessing daily in the Mediterranean as hundreds of illegal immigrants from Sub-Saharan Africa are swept up on our shores is a far cry from the sea of peace and stability we strive for in our shared sea.  Solidarity must also translate into assistance to countries of first arrival to be able to cope with the mass influxes which are stretching our resources beyond their limits.  Malta believes in a holistic immigration policy, involving a collective effort of countries of origin, countries of arrival and countries of final destination.  We believe that only by tackling the problems of extreme poverty at source can true socio-economic development be achieved and a stop put to such migration flows.

It is with some satisfaction that I trace the evolution of the common path we pledged to pursue in several fields.  The mixed commission which met in Tunisia at the level of our foreign ministers last February further consolidated our multilevel bilateral cooperation and crowned it by a common declaration to move ahead together to explore which areas of our continental shelves could be the object of common exploration and exploitation by our two countries.

The cooperation agreements we have signed today in the fields of medical services and public health, handicrafts, and information and communication technologies complement the arsenal of existing cooperation agreements, including cooperation in the fields of investments; cultural, scientific and technical cooperation; fisheries and agriculture and the environment.  They are proof of our countries’ multilevel, long term engagement to a strategic partnership and a tangible measure of the excellent level of our relations, both as neighbours and friends.  This year has seen several technical missions both in Tunisia and in Malta implementing these cooperation agreements. 

Mr President

Our Joint Declaration of Intention on Joint Oil Exploration and Exploitation is an agreement of significant proportions that should lead to a qualitative leap in our strategic partnership.  Mutual investment opportunities will certainly intensify now that the Malta-Tunisia Business Council has been created.  Our Treaty of Friendship, Good Neighbourhood and Cooperation will enter into force imminently on ratification by your Chamber of Deputies.

It is my deep conviction that our long term commitment to a strategic partnership between Malta and Tunisia in the central Mediterranean, based on our shared past and belief in our common future is the way forward in all spheres.  This strategic partnership is of great value and significance to both our countries.

Excellency

Malta strives to ensure that the Mediterranean occupies its rightful place in international affairs and on the European Union’s agenda.  In Malta you find a true friend in the European Union, a friend who understands Tunisia’s realities, its concerns and its aspirations.  We are extremely conscious of the fact that the complexity of the Euro-Mediterranean region impels us all to take responsible decisions at the level of the European Union which bring together, rather than alienate, diverse cultures and communities based on the universal values of peace, mutual respect and solidarity.  In this regard I also take this opportunity to pay tribute to your incessant efforts to work towards dialogue, tolerance and complementarity among all cultures, civilisations and religions through the Chair you have created for this purpose.

With these thoughts in mind I invite you, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, to raise your glass and to toast to the health of the President of Tunisia, and to the friendship between the Governments and People of Malta and Tunisia.