Malta is to commit itself to giving €50,000 in aid to Somalia ever year for the next three years, Foreign Minister George Vella said today.

He was speaking at a meeting  of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, where reference was made to next week's conference "A new deal for Somalia".

Foreign Minister George Vella.

The conference will be organised jointly by the European Union and Somalia in Brussels. Its objective is to sustain momentum in Somalia following the formation of a new government and to ensure that the country stays on the path to stability and peace.

Countries will be asked to make financial pledges during the working sessions.

Dr Vella underlined the importance of institution-building in Somalia.

He also noted that a third of immigrants in Malta are Somali. 

Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs

In a reaction, the Opposition spokesman on foreign affairs, Carm Mifsud Bonnici, said this figure was too small, especially given the context of the number of Somali migrants in Malta. He said Malta should provide more generous financial assistance and also provide other assistance aimed at institution-building in Somalia. At the same time, Somali migrants in Malta should be encouraged to return home.

SYRIA

Earlier during today's meeting, Dr Vella reiterated Malta’s stand against the use of chemical weapons and said that whoever made use of such weapons should be held accountable. At the same time, Malta was also against military intervention and in favour of diplomatic solutions.

Dr Vella said that the fact that Russia was seeking to convince the Assad regime to cede chemical weapons implied that the regime possessed chemical weapons.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said there was little doubt that chemical weapons had been used in Syria and while one understood the Maltese government's position, the use of chemical weapons was a crime and efforts should be made for whoever was responsible to be held to account. 
 
MALTA CULTURAL COUNCIL

Speaking on the Council of Maltese Living Abroad, Dr Vella said that the Malta Cultural Institute was being set up to promote Maltese culture worldwide: it was not only limited to countries where Maltese people resided.

RECOGNITION OF DIVORCE

Labour MP Deborah Schembri said that Maltese legislation recognised divorce attained from a court abroad. In certain countries, consensual divorce was not obtained from a court. This meant that a person present in Malta would be considered bigamous as his or her divorce would not be recognised by Maltese law.

Dr Vella said that this was a valid point and that one should raise these issues in Parliament to present amendments to existing legislation.

At the beginning of the meeting, committee chairman Chris Fearne welcomed Ghanaian Foreign Minister Hannah Tetteh to the Foreign Affairs Committee and said that relations between Malta and Ghana existed for around 40 years.

Ms Tetteh said that the Ghanaian government sought to establish its diplomatic mission in Malta and to set up a joint commission for cooperation. This would create a framework for increased engagement by the private sector.

Dr Fearne thanked Ghana for supporting Malta’s bid to the IMO council and for supporting Malta’s candidacy as a non-permanent member in the UN Security Council.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici praised the Ghanian government for its relationship with Malta. He noted that a hospital in Ghana is run by Maltese. He augured there could be closer cooperation between the two countries on the issue of migrants.