Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has been invited to the White House for a tête à tête meeting with US President George W. Bush.

The United States is a powerhouse in the world’s economy, and full advantage should be taken of this fact when the meeting is held next month.

The US has, over the years, helped Malta out in various ways – equipment has been donated to the AFM, vehicles have also been donated to the AFM, as well as the PISCES identification system and, perhaps most significantly, the VACIS detection system which is in place at the Malta Freeport.

This latter piece of equipment has enabled our Customs people to detect massive quantities of counterfeit items intended to be smuggled on to other countries after arriving in containers from abroad. Not a month goes by without Customs announcing that they have pulled off another major coup.

So, yes, the US has definitely helped Malta. Of course, these gifts are not only useful for Malta per se; these donations have also helped, for example by the way the VACIS is eliminating unfair and illicit international trade.

The patrol vessels the US has given us do help us better police the Mediterranean waterways, which is also a help to the US – especially seeing that US ships pull into Malta for supplies or refits.

We enjoy a good relationship with the United States, and Malta is often seen as one of the more friendly

countries.

It was also good to see that, yesterday, the Civil Protection Department issued a call for blankets and such to be sent to the refugees in New Orleans, devastated by hurricane Katrina. What we will collect might not be a massive amount, but at least we have tried to respond to the generosity of the US with a token of our goodwill.

Of course, the issue of international terrorism is going to be on the agenda when Dr Gonzi meets Dr Bush, and rightly so – it is an issue that threatens each and every country in the world, but this item will be of particular importance to us in view of the CHOGM meeting to be held in Malta in November.

In addition, it is only to be expected that Mr Bush will thank Malta for its stance against terror – our contribution might be little, but we are a country that has repeatedly condemned any form of terrorist attack from the word go – and moral support is better than no support.

And this is where we should try and ask the US for help in this regard. We need all the help we can get because our resources are limited.

Another issue that Malta could push with the US is additional investment. There is a lot of US foreign investment in our country, but we are sure that there is the potential for more.

Malta is a hub in the Mediterranean – we are restructuring the whole nation, true, but we are beginning to see many new services and industries that we can offer to other countries. These range from yacht services to financial services and many others.

We can attract more American companies to Malta to set up shop here. We have a good and very adaptable workforce.

We are also part of the EU’s internal market and can, of course, offer advantages to non-EU businesses for trading inside the EU bloc.

We can also serve as the proverbial link to North Africa – especially in view of the fact that sanctions have been lifted in Libya. We have great potential – all we need to do is tell people about it.