The former Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion, Carmelo Abela, has launched a consultation document on an initiative which focuses on trade, diplomacy and development with Africa: “Malta and Africa. A Strategy for Partnership 2020 – 2025”.

Interestingly, it follows a very similar but inevitably more powerful initiative earlier last year by the United States and precedes “Europe’s Strategy with Africa” which EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen will be presenting by the end of this year.

It is most heartening to see Malta taking an imaginative initiative in the company of such major players. Its geographical position close to the Mediterranean-bordering countries of North Africa and the Maghreb have drawn Malta closely into the North African economic and political orbit for centuries. But the government is now to pursue a broader strategy beyond Africa’s northern shores, consolidating its links in continental Africa through its membership of the Commonwealth and of the European Union.

The Maltese government views Africa as a vital strategic partner in the years ahead. It is an emerging economic force of more than fifty countries. The government’s Strategy for Africa is an attempt to respond to the demands of a changing Africa and charts how Malta can deepen relations with countries in that vast continent “through… a dialogue for partnership”.

Launching the consultation document, Carmelo Abela focussed on three key themes: trade, development and diplomacy. “To make [trade] a success”, the minister said “we need to be part of the narrative of growth and opportunity in Africa”. This is the new-found awareness which is driving both American and European interests in the continent. China has long stolen a march on the other global players through its Belt and Road Initiative.

Africa does not simply need aid. It wants trade, development and growth through business-to-business contacts and the sharing of skills and knowledge. Malta-based enterprises are excellently placed to play a greater role in Africa. In 2020, the ministry will be leading trade delegations to Ghana, Ethiopia and the Ivory Coast, as well conducting an exploratory visit to Rwanda.

As to development projects, Malta already does important work in Africa through Maltese civil society organisations working under the government’s Overseas Development Assistance Fund, which this year has been increased to €2 million.

Malta is remarkable for being the smallest, democratic, independent country in the European Union. Despite its tiny size, it boasts the full panoply of a major state: armed forces, diplomatic missions in forty-two countries and multilateral organisations, advanced and thriving public services, a remarkably successful free market economy. In Africa, despite its ambitions, Malta’s diplomatic reach is inevitably limited. It has embassies in North Africa in Libya, Egypt and Tunisia, but only one in continental Africa, Ghana, which is a member of the Economic Community of West African States, where a High Commission has just been established.

But Malta’s diplomatic reach is greatly extended by its membership of, and close regular inter-action with, other Commonwealth countries, including almost twenty African countries. Moreover, Malta has a Non-Resident Ambassador in Ethiopia, who is also Malta’s Representative to the African Union, an important economic player.

Malta’s Strategy for Africa is an excellent example of its ability to punch above its weight. As EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, complimenting Malta’s confident engagement with Africa, put it: “Malta could be Europe’s bridge to Africa.”