11 warships to visit Malta

Foreign Minister Joe Borg yesterday listed 11 warships which have been given permission to visit Malta until the end of the year.

He said in reply to a parliamentary question by Labour MP Carmelo Abela that they were the Italian minesweeper Sapri (which has since visited Malta), the French frigates La Motte-Picquet and Courbet, the British aircraft carrer Ark Royal, the destroyer Southampton, the frigate Argyll, the survey ship Roebuck and the auxiliary vessel Sir Galahad, the German submarines U 17 and S 196 and the Belgian survey vessel Westdiep.

He said embassies were always told that permits for naval visits were issued on condition that the ships did not carry nuclear weapons in Maltese waters.