Queen`s Jubilee Baton Relay arrives on Saturday

The Queen`s Jubilee Baton Relay is arriving in Malta on Saturday at noon and will be in Malta until Thursday on the final leg of the relay`s tour of Commonwealth countries.

On completion of the tour, the longest ever international relay, the Queen`s Jubilee Baton will be used to inaugurate the XVII Commonwealth Games, to be held in Manchester between July 25 and August 4, and in which Malta is taking the biggest and best prepared contingent ever to the Commonwealth games.

The games will be one of the flagship events of the golden jubilee year of Queen Elizabeth II, marking the Queen`s 50th anniversary as head of the Commonwealth.

British High Commissioner Howard Pearce told a news conference yesterday that the Manchester 2002 Commonwealth games would host more than 5,250 athletes, coaches and officials, including Olympic gold medal winners, international champions and elite athletes with disability.

Parliamentary Secretary Jesmond Mugliett said that to mark the baton`s visit to Malta, a five-day relay race around the Maltese islands has been organised. The baton will be carried across the islands by Maltese national athletes, club runners, tri-athletes, cyclists, swimmers and sailors.

There will also be a number of official ceremonies and celebrations to mark the Queen`s jubilee.

Mr Pearce said these included an exhibition of photographs of the Queen at St James Cavalier Centre for Creativity between today and Thursday, a jubilee service at St Paul`s Anglican Pro-Cathedral in Valletta and a procession of signal beacons will be lit across Malta and Gozo. Similar beacons will be lit simultaneously across the Commonwealth on Monday.

There will be a rebroadcast of a national service from St Paul`s Cathedral in London on Tuesday and a jubilee concert at the British High Commissioner`s residence on Wednesday.

All the events in Malta will be filmed by the BBC and will be broadcast across the Commonwealth.

The baton`s visit to Malta is being organised jointly by the Commonwealth Games Association, represented in Malta by the Malta Olympic Committee, the British High Commission and the government.

The Queen`s Jubilee Baton Relay began its epic journey on Commonwealth Day, March 11, when it was launched by Queen Elizabeth II.

The baton, which pulsates when somebody holds it and which contains a personal message from the Queen, has already visited 19 Commonwealth countries and has been carried by hundreds of athletes, celebrities, heads of state and members of the public.

A total of 54 countries, including over 1.7 billion people - almost one third of the world`s nations - are members of the Commonwealth, a voluntary association of independent states, dedicated to the principles of peace, freedom, democracy and equality.

The baton has already visited Canada, Jamaica, Barbados, Dominica, St Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Tonga and Brunei and is currently in Malaysia.

It will visit Singapore, Malaysia and India before its arrival in Malta. In each country visited, the baton`s arrival has been celebrated with a programme of events including a marathon, athletic events, concerts and festivals.

More information on the baton`s visit to Malta can be found on the internet.

www.nocmalta.org www.britain.com.mt