Last week, when the Malta Labour Party organised a press conference on the post-budget comments regarding the Foreign Affairs Ministry, I did not limit myself to criticism but also put forward various proposals and suggestions.

The main thrust of my criticism was that, as things stand at present, the Foreign Affairs Ministry lacks a dynamic economic strategy.

Even though the ministry should, in the near future, have its own directorate for economic affairs, its performance to date has been somewhat lacking, particularly when compared with the pro-active approach that other foreign ministries take when promoting economic cooperation and trade promotion, as well as the attraction of direct foreign investment. These are ingredients which, in their own way, should contribute directly to much needed job creation in the Maltese isles.

Particularly in view of the limited size of our island, it has become imperative for our Foreign Ministry to rely more than ever on economic diplomacy.

While the recent visit by a commercial delegation from Egypt was a positive step in the right direction, this was too much of a one-off initiative. Other such initiatives are needed on an ongoing basis.

The government should also consider creating the posts of trade commissioners in strategically located embassies, who should ideally be people with private sector exposure in their curriculum vitae.

It would be interesting were the ministry to also consider promoting PPPs – public private partnerships – overseas, as there are a number of projects, particularly in neighbouring countries, that could be undertaken by local enterprises and consortia.

While the idea of setting up business councils was also a welcome decision, the ministry has failed to provide any information as to how effective such councils have been to date. We still do not know how many of them are functioning as well as how frequently they have met, if at all.

The idea of mixed commissions with friendly states needs revisiting. Many of these commissions have not met for years, while in certain cases, such as the mixed commission with Libya, the government is apparently finding it difficult to even fix a date with its counterparts in Tripoli. At least, this is what we were given to understand by the minister himself during a recent meeting of the Foreign and European Affairs Committee.

These mixed commissions should meet regularly and be more dynamic and pro-active in their approach.

One other major failure of this government is that on various occasions it has missed the opportunity to have either the PM or the Foreign Minister accompanied by leading business people when going abroad to meet their respective counterparts. A typical case in point is Libya. When the German, Italian and British premiers visited Tripoli they all took high-level business delegations with them. So why should we act differently? This is merely a case of trying to emulate others rather than trying to reinvent the wheel.

While the Foreign and European Affairs Committee has been by far the most hard-working parliamentary committee up to now – even were one to exclude the numerous EU scrutiny meetings that it holds regularly – it would be ideal if, in future, time could be found for it to be addressed by serving ambassadors who could give an account of their endeavours on behalf of the Maltese government in the countries where they are presently serving.

It remains a mystery to me why this government seems to have relegated relations with the Gulf countries to a slow-burner. While former Minister Dalli should be commended for reversing Foreign Minister Borg’s decision to close the Saudi embassy, which would have sent a definitely negative signal to the kingdom and the area in general, I personally feel that Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the Emirates are not being given sufficient attention by the Maltese government.

We also need to address the needs of Maltese migrants abroad, particularly in Australia, Canada and the USA. The Foreign Office should have a one-stop shop that sees to their needs. At the same time, many Maltese second and third generation citizens located there could be of direct benefit through their present business activities and operations.

Now that CHOGM has come and gone, and Malta has assumed the presidency of the Commonwealth for the next two years, one would have expected government to have already launched the two-year programme for its presidency. How long will we have to wait for this to become public knowledge?

Finally, while hoping that the OCED will give due consideration to Malta’s application for membership in order to derive maximum benefit from our affiliation to this organisation, it is important that the commercial community and the social partners represented at MCESD level should become familiar with the workings and mechanisms of this organisation.

These were some of the points that I raised during the press conference – points which, unfortunately, a large section of the local media chose to ignore for reasons unknown.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you, Mr Editor, your diligent staff and all your readers all best wishes for the New Year.

e-mail : [email protected]

Leo Brincat is the main

opposition spokesman for

Foreign Affairs and IT.