The Labour Party delegation which visited Libya yesterday and today elevated and not tarnished Malta’s reputation, leader Joseph Muscat said this afternoon.
Speaking at the airport just after his arrival in Malta, Dr Muscat said that the Prime Minister this morning had acted in a panic when he warned him not to tarnish Malta’s reputation.
Dr Muscat said that he and his delegation did not say one word against the government and the country and the only reason behind his visit to Libya was that he loved Malta and wanted to improve relations between the two countries.
He also wanted to ensure that these relations are strengthened if there is a change in government.
“I do not think we need his (the Prime Minister’s) permission to leave the country,” Dr Muscat said.
The visit, the Labour leader said, had burst the government’s bubble that the leadership of new Libya and the PL did not have good relations.
“Malta’s good relationship with Libya is tarnished by those who sell false medicines there and not by us,” he said.
When asked why did the trip announce the trip so late, Dr Muscat said it was the PL which decided when to issue its press releases.
In Libya, Dr Muscat met several Libyan officials with whom he discussed several matters of interest to both countries.
He was accompanied by MPs Karmenu Vella, Michael Farrugia and Noel Farrugia and PL international secretary Alex Sciberras Trigona.
Asked about the delegation, Dr Muscat said he took these people with him to prove that the PL’s people who had been involved with Libya in the past still had good relations with the people there.
He noted that there were people who had tried to put spokes in the wheels to try to stop the visit.
Libya, Dr Muscat said, was in need of help in various areas, including health and education.
On visas, he acknowledged there had been an improvement but said there were still problems.
Dr Muscat noted that the last foreign minister to really give a Mediterranean dimension to foreign affairs was the late President Guido de Marco.
For this reason, he planned to have a minister for EU and another for foreign affairs, for the latter to concentrate on Mediterranean relations.
Asked about his secret meeting with the former Korean ambassador earlier this month, Dr Muscat said the meeting was as secret as the Prime Minister’s with a US ambassador whom he told he had a limited talent pool.
He said he had about three meetings a week with ambassadors.
During his meeting with the Korean ambassador he just expressed condolences. The colourful adjectives used by the Korean news agency were wrongly attributed to him.
On Turkey, Dr Muscat said the political bloc Labour formed part of supported Turkey’s right to open negotiations with the EU.
However, one would have to see that all conditions were satisfied. Turkey, however, would not be discussed in this legislature, possibly not even in the next.