Third consular corps' meeting held in Sydney

A number of activities were held in Sydney to coincide with the dates of the third meeting of the Maltese consular corps in Australia and New Zealand.

The idea behind holding such meetings in different states and territories is that it gives participants an opportunity to meet members of the local Maltese community as well as allowing them to share their experiences.

As is usual for such occasions, a thanksgiving Mass in Maltese was held at St Francis church, Blacktown, which was con-celebrated by a number of Maltese priests serving in New South Wales. The principal celebrant was Fr Ray Zammit, MSSP. He was assisted by Fr Emmanuel Gatt, OFM Conv., Fr John Magri, OFM, Fr John Briffa, SDB, and Fr John Spiteri, OFM Conv.

During Mass, special prayers were offered for deceased former members of the Maltese diplomatic and consular corps that served in Australia and New Zealand. Former High Commissioner Joseph Forace and Elia Borg Caruana, former acting High Commissioner, both of whom died a few months ago, were specially remembered.

Gejtu Pace, president of the La Valette Social Centre, who also served as the event's master of ceremonies, welcomed the attendees to a commemorative lunch, co-organised by the Maltese Community Council of NSW, the La Valette Social Centre, the Australian-Maltese Chamber of Commerce and the Maltese-Australian Business and Professional Association of NSW. The principal sponsor of the activity was the Representative Office of the Bank of Valletta in Australia.

Adam Scicluna and Sam Mifsud provided the entertainment.

Charles Mifsud, president of the Maltese Community Council of NSW, emphasised the importance the Maltese Community Council of NSW gave to unity among the Maltese community. He also expressed his support for the conference the High Commission would be holding next year on the use and teaching of the Maltese language in Australia and New Zealand.

Sydney Borg, president of the Australian-Maltese Chamber of Commerce, explained how his organisation encourages its members to participate and help the Maltese communities in the social, cultural and sporting sectors. He mentioned the efforts the AMCC was making to strengthen the networks between the Maltese active in the professional and commercial sectors in each state and territory of Australia and New Zealand through the "enhanced cooperation initiative" the High Commission launched early this year with the support of Malta Enterprise.

Joseph Cauchi, president of the Maltese-Australian Business and Professional Association of NSW, who was unavoidably absent because of an overseas visit, was represented by Emmanuel Pisani. John Aquilina, speaker of the Legislative Assembly of NSW, delivered the keynote speech in which, after analysing in detail the situation of the Maltese communities in Australia, made a heartfelt appeal to all the Maltese present to play their part in upholding their cultural heritage, their Christian values and their Maltese identity and to pass them on to their children and grandchildren. He praised the initiatives of the High Commission to help the Maltese in Australia and New Zealand to achieve this aim.

Mr Aquilina noted with satisfaction the presence of a number of youths among the big gathering present for the commemorative lunch and commented that he was pleased to learn of new initiatives by Maltese youths such as the George Cross Falcons Soccer Association in Wollongong and the Malta Knights Rugby League Club. He appealed to traditional Maltese associations to encourage the participation of young people in their associations and activities.

High Commissioner Ivan Fsadni recalled that during his first visit to the La Valette Social Centre, more than two-and-a-half years ago, he had expressed two wishes. The first was that he would be a High Commissioner for all, whether living in big or small Maltese communities.

His second was to promote unity among all the Maltese in Australia and New Zealand - as the Maltese pray to God every time they sing the last verse of the national anthem. Dr Fsadni was pleased that, with God's help, and with the support of all the Maltese communities, such wishes were becoming a reality.

Five of the nine participants at the consular corps meeting had to leave to the airport and could not attend the press conference that started almost one hour late. At the press conference, Mr Aquilina spoke about the importance of such activities for Maltese communities in Australia and New Zealand. He expressed his support to the initiatives being undertaken in the commercial sector and gave as an example a recent invitation he received from the Tunisian government to visit Tunisia and to extend his assistance to the strengthening of commercial ties between Australia and Tunisia.

Participants at the meeting were invited to a function organised by the Malta Knights RLC and another by Franco Farrugia, chief representative of the Bank of Valletta in Australia.

Unfortunately, little is known about the meetings of the consular staff and what difficulties they come across and how they solve them, and what other initiatives are in the pipeline.

A suggestion is being made that rather than holding these meetings every year, they should be held bi-annually. It is felt that greater benefits will emerge if a meeting between the representatives of the Maltese government and the leaders of the Maltese community were organised more frequently.