Malta has long been touted as a country of crossroads. East meets West, and North meets South.

But it runs a bit deeper than that. Of course, we are slap bang in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, regarded in antiquity as being the centre of the world. We have been in contact with more civilisations than perhaps any other place in the world. We had the Phoenicians, the Romans, the Arabs, the Kingdom of Naples, Spain, Barbary, the Knights and many more. The list goes on and on, culminating in independence from foreign rule in 1964.

In that passage of time, we have an individual identity. At the end of the day, we are Maltese, there is no European island state in the Mediterranean and there is no such similar Arab state. If we truly paused to think, we are a real melting pot. We were ruled by Arabs and we adopted their language and even their religion. We were then assimilated into Europe hundreds of years later and hundreds of years later again, we were the vanguard of Europe in fending off the Ottoman Empire. Closer in living history, we were annexed by France and then again by Great Britain (and this is only skimming the surface very lightly).

We have been ruled by foreigners and on each and every occasion, they said of us that nothing can take away the pride of Maltese, their Mediterranean characteristics and their own unique identity.

We understand Europe. We are European. We also understand the Muslim world, even though we are not Arab. We have similarities in language, the way our families meet around the dinner table, and even have some character traits (not to mention surnames).

All in all, perhaps Arab League secretary general Amre Moussa hit the nail right on the head on Wednesday when he said that the Maltese are the embodiment of Mediterranean society and culture.

Perhaps we are, and to take an odd approach to it, the mere fact that we do not even realise this is perhaps proof that we truly are ‘indigenous’ Mediterranean people.

To this aim, the European Commission and the Arab League liason office has been opened in Malta. The decision to base it here came after a meeting of the Union for the Mediterranean last November.

One must not expect world-changing events from this office. But it is a start. We have an office where representatives of the Arab world, who sometimes seem alien to Europeans, can work here for cultural dialogue from a base which understands their culture and is tolerant to their ways and their religion.

We have to start somewhere. There are millions of peaceful Europeans and millions more Arabs who only want peace and co-existence. The rise of religious fanaticism and terror attacks have done much to dent the hopes of the citizens of this world that peace, tolerance and understanding can be achieved.

At least we have set the ball rolling. Malta has long believed in dialogue as a solution to the world’s woes. Like everyone else, we bluster and we might argue, but at the end of the day (after learning our own lessons) we have realised that talking, mediation and discussion is far more fruitful than guns, bombs and oppression (after learning our own lessons).

While we may not be the link between Europe and the Arab world, this is one small step in the right direction.