“I would have sacked my chief communications officer within minutes if he spoke the way Kurt Farrugia did after my meeting with Sai Mizzi,” Opposition Leader Simon Busuttil said this morning.

He was holding an informal meeting with journalists following his visit to China last week, during which he met Malta’s special envoy to China Sai Mizzi.

Following the press statement issued by the Nationalist Party on the visit, the government’s chief communications officer Kurt Farrugia told The Malta Independent that Dr Busuttil did not have the courage to tell Mrs Mizzi to her face what the PN has been saying about her for two years. “Talk about chickens,” Mr Farrugia tweeted.

“I would not allow the government’s chief communications officer to speak that way and I would have sacked him within minutes,” Dr Busuttil said. “It is unacceptable for a government official paid from taxpayer money to act in this way.”

Dr Busuttil said that the PN statement did not include anything more or less from what was said.

He said that the Economy Ministry’s communications officer Jonathan Attard was present for the meeting. “You can confirm what was said with him,” Dr Busuttil said. The Opposition Leader said it was strange that Mr Attard was present for the meeting with Sai Mizzi but did not attend another meeting with Malta’s outgoing Ambassador to China, Clifford Borg Marks. “He did not explain his presence although we took it that he was sent by the government.”

Sai Mizzi said her salary was justified

Dr Busuttil added that Mrs Mizzi does not understand the implications of having a minister’s wife occupy such a sensitive position. “We told her that the principles of good governance exclude such an appointment. I would never, as Prime Minister, give a political appointment to a minister’s spouse.” Dr Busuttil said, at this point, Mrs Mizzi asked him to show her where it was written that she could not be given the post. “Maybe she does not understand our culture, or maybe she does not want to understand,” he said.

The Opposition Leader said he also told Mrs Mizzi that her salary was way over the top. “She was taken aback by this comment and insisted that her salary is fair for the work she is doing.”

Dr Busuttil said it was made evidently clear in the meeting that, apart from a Memorandum of Understanding about cooperation in five fields and the recent agreement with Huawei, Mrs Mizzi has not produced anything of substance. “I also asked her about her plans and vision for the future and even there, there is nothing substantial. The concept of internationalization of Maltese companies, for example, is totally absent from her vision. She asked what Maltese companies could possibly export to China and had zero answers on her vision on changes to Malta Enterprise policies. We went to China with two objections on Sai Mizzi and we came back with a third: she is not fit for the job.”

Dr Busuttil also remarked on the fact that Sai Mizzi still does not have an office to work from. “We visited the Maltese Consulate in Shanghai, a 160sqm area on the 11th floor of a high-rise building. Works are ongoing and the place is unfit for a meeting.” The meeting was, in fact, held on another floor. Works at the consulate are expected to be completed by the end of the month. “This means that, for the past two years, Mrs Mizzi has not had an office to work from.” The ME trade envoy also said, during the meeting with Dr Busuttil, that she could not understand comments by Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella, who said in a recent interview that he had no idea where she was operating from.

SEP believe in transparency, unlike the government

Dr Busuttil also spoke about the meeting with top officials from Shanghai Electric Power, the company to which the government sold a third of Enemalta and the BWSC plant.

“We were given more information in the space of one hour than the government has given us in two years.” Dr Busuttil said the SEP officials have no objection to the government being transparent on the agreements signed in Malta. “If SEP is willing to be open and transparent why does the government not want the same?”

The Opposition Leader said SEP realizes that its agreement with Malta is long-term and that means that it would have to work with successive administrations. “They say they are committed to transparency, unlike the government.”

Dr Busuttil also had meetings with the Vice Foreign Minister, the Vice Minister for International Affairs of the Communist Party and Guo Jinlong, a top member of the politburo. The delegation, which also included Deputy Leader Beppe Fenech Adami and MP Tonio Fenech also visited a hospital and had talks on Traditional Chinese Medicine, a subject explored by the previous PN administration, and key transport and trade companies in Shanghai. They also met with the EU’s Head of Delegation to China, Hans Dietmar Schweisgut.

The Chinese government wants to strengthen its relations with the PN and it recognized the party’s track record on this subject. The last administration signed no less than 13 cooperation agreements with China. The PN, he said, wanted to strengthen its relationship with China on a bilateral and an EU level and wanted this relationship to be built on trust, honesty and transparency.

“Malta’s relationship with China was clouded in the past two years but this is because of the government’s lack of transparency. This includes Sai Mizzi’s appointment and the secret agreements with Shanghai Electric Power.”

Dr Busuttil described the meeting with Mr Borg Marks very cordial and said there were no negative reflections on him. He said the PN made a deliberate effort to be as open and transparent as it could on the China visit because that was the way things should be done when meeting with third countries. “This contrasts highly with the way the government does things, including with countries like Azerbaijan. Does anyone know what kind of relationship the government is developing with Azerbaijan?”