Slovenian President Visits Malta

Slovenian President Milan Kucan arrived for a two-day official visit in Malta on Monday, 7 October. President Kucan was accompanied by a business delegation including Vice President of the Slovenian Chamber of Commerce Marta Kos and representatives of several Slovenian companies.

After meeting with his Maltese counterpart Guido de Marco, President Kucan said that the relationship between Slovenia and Malta has a long tradition that is based on mutual trust and respect. Slovenian president stated that above all, the two countries see each other as future partners in the EU. The two presidents focused on the concluding phase of the EU accession and exchanged views on current issues in the international community. The situation in the Balkans, the Middle East, and Iraq were also among the topics discussed. For the two EU candidate countries, the Union is a means for achieving future goals for Europe as a whole, as well as accomplishing its goals in the world, said Kucan. The EU should thus take the initiative in establishing dialogue on the open issues between different cultures in the world, the two presidents agreed. Only eleven years after declaring independence Slovenia is a politically and economically stable country, said de Marco, branding it as a success story. This is mostly owing to the Slovenians themselves, but also to the country's leaders, the Maltese president thought.

Slovenia and Malta have a few common difficulties in accession negotiations with the EU, so they expect the Union to show flexibility in finding solutions acceptable to all sides. That was the opinion shared by Slovenian President Milan Kucan and Maltese Prime Minister Edward Fenech Adami.

Kucan also met with the leader of the Maltese opposition, head of the Laburist Party Alfred Sant, whose party contradicts Malta's membership in the EU. Kucan told Sant that the Union is not very flexible in the final phase of accession negotiations and is not ready to make specific agreements with individual candidates. That especially affects small countries such as Slovenia and Malta, added Kucan.

As the end of negotiations is drawing nearer it is important that each candidate country joins the Union individually, so a general principle based on an average is not appropriate, believed the Slovenian president. He stressed that the Slovenian public favours EU membership and that a referendum would be staged after the conclusion of the negotiations.

As it was mentioned at the talks that Malta would like to remain neutral because of its African vicinity, Kucan said that in light of latest threats it is hard to remain neutral these days. That is why Slovenia wants to join NATO, explained Kucan, admitting that the public support for NATO is lower than that for EU membership.

Sant explained his party's position, arguing that Malta is a small state in the vicinity of Africa. He was afraid that his country would lose control over capital flows and ownership. He was convinced that Malta would not benefit very much from EU membership economically, while politically its voice would not be heard through five seats in the European Parliament. Decisions, important for Malta, would be taken in Brussels, believed Sant.

On the other hand, the Prime Minister Fenech Adami used the same arguments to justify Malta's accession to the Union. He believed that Malta could only affirm its sovereignty within the institution, because it would take part in important decisions. As for economic reasons, the island is very dependent on the EU in trade. According to the Prime Minister, Maltese citizens are mostly in favour of becoming EU citizens.

Kucan and Fenech Adami also spoke about the potential to boost bilateral economic co-operation between Slovenia and Malta. They established that all options have not been used yet and that EU membership could contribute to better co-operation.

Political relations between Malta and Slovenia are excellent, while economic relations are good but lag behind co-operation in politics, Slovenian President Milan Kucan said as he met with officials of the Maltese chamber of commerce. His view was reiterated by the chamber's head Reginald Fava, who also observed the considerable similarities between the economies of both countries. There are two major advantages for both countries in boosting trade, said Kucan. Its geographical position makes Malta the ideal partner for the penetration of markets of North Africa and the Middle East, he said, while the other advantage is the thriving sea transport; the island is the main Mediterranean port for the transhipment of containers. What Malta would benefit from forging closer business ties with Slovenia is the geographic position and its contacts with countries that made up the former Yugoslavia, stressed the Slovenian president. Slovenians know what Central and Eastern European countries have gone through in the time of transition, and the experiences are an advantage that Slovenian businessmen can offer to Maltese companies wanting to do business in the region, he noted. Fava, too, noted that both countries have a lot of room for improvement in the economy, particularly in tourism. He was optimistic that the two countries will be able to improve business co-operation, and noted that Malta has a long history of international trade, which was boosted by its geographic position and the lack of natural resources on the island.

Bilateral trade is very modest indeed. In 2001, it amounted to EUR 7.8m. Slovenia's export to the island state was at EUR 1.7m (a two-percent increase over 2000), while import from Malta amounted to EUR 6m - 5.4 times larger than a year before. In the first seven months of 2002 Slovenia's exports to Malta were at EUR 1.1m and imports at EUR 1.4m. In an effort to boost trade, the two countries also signed an agreement on avoiding double taxation.

Source: Slovene Press Agency STA