A spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion has categorically denied a media report stating that Saudi Arabia has severed all ties with Malta over alleged remarks made by the Minister on Gulf countries’ decision to cut ties with Qatar.

Some weeks ago Gulf countries took a decision to severe all and any ties with Qatar over the wealthy nation’s alleged support of terrorism, directly or indirectly.

A dubious news source, the URL of which is fox-news24.com but is then curiously called USA today quoted Minister Carmelo Abela as the foreign affairs minister, without naming him, as saying “the Gulf countries’ decision to end ties with Qatar is not in the right direction”, and that he explained that there are diplomatic processes in place to solve issues.

The media report did not say when or where the Minster allegedly made those remarks, and quoted Saudi Arabia as saying “this statement signifies Malta’s stand on the issue at hand and would not entertain anyone supporting terrorism indirectly by supporting Qatar”.

The report went on to quote an alleged statement made by Saudi Arabia saying that “This tells us Malta’s stand on the issue at hand. This is a clear indication that Qatar is being supported by Malta despite enough evidence of them supporting terrorism”.

Contacted by The Malta Independent on whether there is any truth to these claims, a spokesperson issued a statement saying:

“The Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion categorically denies that Saudi Arabia has severed ties with Malta; in fact, these ties remain as strong as ever. It also strenuously denies that Minister Carmelo Abela has made the remarks reported by fox-news24.com, or any other remarks whatsoever on the situation concerning Saudi Arabia and Qatar.”