As a nation Malta has embraced the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008, and the past eight months have seen the islands celebrate cultures from around the world.

The initiative is organised by the St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity and coordinator Toni Attard is pleased with the progress. "So far we've had more than 50 events including performances, workshops, festivals, discussions and exhibitions. Their success proves that creativity is an excellent tool to promote intercultural dialogue. Diversity is healthy.

"The next big step for the Maltese government would be to engage in a long-term strategy that supports and promotes intercultural dialogue with ongoing communication between cultures," he said.

The Times interviewed the Maltese Indian Community president, a Swedish voluntary worker and an Italian-Albanian Greek Catholic Papas (priest of the Byzantine rite) to see how intercultural dialogue on the islands works in reality.

Twenty-four-year-old Amanda Gustafsson moved to Malta in September 2007 and has found the islands have been able to offer her the opportunity to study, gain work experience and develop her language skills.

After travelling around Costa Rica and Panama, and gaining a degree in anthropology from Sweden, Amanda moved to Malta to specialise in archaeology. Since graduating in June she has undertaken voluntary work experience with local archaeologist Edward Calleja. "I chose Malta to study as it offered the most specialised archaeology course, with plenty of opportunity for practical experience - a rare opportunity.

"We do a lot of work in Rabat, and I assist in the monitoring and preservation of areas, checking for historical remains before people start building. This mainly involves excavating, documenting and recording our findings. Malta is literally growing pottery from the earth," she laughs.

She speaks exceptional English and also attributes this to her time spent in Malta. "In addition to English, I have also being learning basic Maltese and hope to do more," she elaborates.

When asked how life in Malta compares to her homeland she states: "I love the relaxed Mediterranean culture, people get much more stressed in Sweden and everything runs to a tight schedule. The only downsides of such a relaxed culture are that service in restaurants for example takes time, as does the administration.

"I'm still viewed as a tourist by most people, which can be a bit frustrating, but on the whole I enjoy living on the island and am not ready to leave yet. The world is so big, and ideally I will see a lot of it as an archaeologist, but I will definitely return to Malta as I have fallen in love with the island."

In stark contrast, Tikam Bharwani moved to Malta over 60 years ago, while Papas Vito Borgia has been here for nearly five decades. Having arrived at a similar age to Ms Gustafsson, they have both witnessed the many cultural changes that have occurred on the islands since their youth.

The Maltese Indian Community president moved to the island in 1946 when he was just 19. Mr Bharwani joined his brother, aunt and uncle who were already living here to take over the family furniture business. As an Indian, he had a British passport when he moved to Malta and was welcome. But he witnessed later restrictions on immigration and employment which saw families divided as the relatives of many foreign men and women living in Malta were not allowed to join them on the islands.

Indian settlers in Malta have become very integrated over the years and Mr Bharwani has never experienced any difficulties as a non-Christian living on the islands. His wife is also Indian, but his children have married into Maltese families, opting for a church ceremony followed by traditional Hindu rituals. This proved popular with Maltese guests eager to experience a different culture.

Specialising in furniture, clothing and gift retail as well as catering, Maltese Indians are firmly established in the islands' business community. Considering that the first Indian settlers arrived a century ago it is surprising that the community is made up of only around 50 families, all of whom are Hindus.

They did not finish building their community centre in San Ġwann until 1992, and Mr Bharwani played an integral part in establishing the initiative, which features a prayer room.

"Before that we used to hold social and religious celebrations in the houses of community members. The centre was established as a meeting point by the Maltese Indian community, but we have a very open-door policy and everyone is welcome."

When asked about the changes he has witnessed in Malta, Mr Bharwani identified technological advances and the changing role of women in society: "When I first arrived in Malta there were no electric fridges, food had to be fresh. Also women didn't work until the 1950s when they started getting jobs as teachers until they got married. Obviously there have been massive changes regarding women in the workplace since then, but this was the start."

Based at Our Lady of Damascus Greek Catholic Church in Valletta, Papas Vito Borgia was born in Sicily to Albanian parents. First appointed to work in Malta in 1959, he has seen his congregation diversify from dominantly Greek worshippers, with people from Romania, Bulgaria, Russia and Serbia now attending his services.

Papas Borgia still says Mass in the traditional Greek language, despite a more diverse congregation, and has noticed that worshippers have got older over the years with fewer young people now attending Mass.

"Our Church is not concerned with the worshipper's nationality, but is more about uniting people in faith," he says in reference to his multicultural congregation.

As a man who has seen the islands develop from a colony to a nation in its own right, Papas Borgia has always found people in the religious and secular community to be "very hospitable".

"Times have changed since I first arrived in Malta though, as you used to be able to leave your door wide open. You can't anymore and we recently had one of our oldest artefacts stolen. Fortunately the police were able to get it back for us. I have also seen the breakdown of the traditional family unit since I arrived in 1959, but these are problems common to all societies, not just in Malta.

"I still enjoy island life, and my role looking after the spiritual welfare of my congregation. Who would have guessed I would still be here after all these years?" he smiles.