Labour MP Leo Brincat, “devoid of any creative foreign policy initiatives, tried to clutch at straws at a delay in the appointment of Malta’s High Commissioner to India,” said the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Referring to a statement issued on Tuesday by the Labour spokesman, the ministry explained that it is currently awaiting the protocol procedure of “expression of agreement” of the Indian External Affairs Ministry to the High Commissioner to India designated by Malta. Without this “agreement”, the Maltese High Commissioner to India cannot be appointed and the Malta High Commission consequently cannot be established.

The ministry said that Minister Frendo must be credited with the initiative and it takes some gall for Mr Brincat to say that Labour will strengthen relations with India because the Maltese government is “lagging behind”. The ministry pointed out that the Malta Labour Party is lagging behind by eight months in publishing its foreign policy document.

The ministry also explained that the trade delegation which was supposed to accompany Dr Frendo to India had to be postponed. In fact, the minister had to trim down his visit as he was invited by the Vice-President of the European Commission Franco Frattini to make the keynote address on “Europe and the Mediterranean” at the Campidoglio, Rome as part of the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome.