Prime Minister Robert Abela will be proposing that Robert Arrigo will be honoured on Republic Day later this year.

Arrigo passed away at the age of 67 on Tuesday morning.

A prominent businessman and a pioneer in the travel and tourism industry, Arrigo served first as the mayor of Sliema and then as a member of parliament representing the PN from 2003 until the day he died.

“We were friends for a long time.  He was a man who I can describe as having had a major contribution in the sporting sector, the social sector, in the tourism sector and in politics through the manner in which he could share his message and in how close he was to the people,” Abela said in in comments to the media.

“That’s why I will be proposing – even though I know he didn’t like titles as we used to speak about this point a lot – that on Republic Day he will be honoured,” Abela said.

Abela was speaking to the media after a conference organised by EY, where he dedicated his speech to Arrigo, with the news of his passing having been published only minutes before he took the podium.