MALTA DIBATTITI TAL-KAMRA TAD-DEPUTATI (Rapport Ufficjali u Rivedut) ID-DISA' PARLAMENT Seduta Nru. 749 It-Tlieta, 4 ta' Ġunju, 2002 Stampat fl-Ufficcju ta' l-Iskrivan Kamra tad-Deputati MALTA Prezz Lm1 ID-DISA' PARLAMENT Seduta Nru. 749

It-Tlieta, 4 ta' Ġunju, 2002

Il-Kamra tad-Deputati ltaqgħet fil-Kamra tal-Parlament, il-Palazz, il-Belt Valletta, fis-6.30 p.m.

Talba

SEDUTA NRU.

It-Tlieta, 4 ta' Ġunju, 2002

WERREJ

INDIRIZZ MILL-ONOREVOLI AMRE` MOUSSA, SEGRETARJU ĠENERALI TAL-LEGA TA'

L-ISTATI GĦARAB 368

INDIRIZZ MILL-ONOREVOLI AMRE` MOUSSA, SEGRETARJU ĠENERALI TAL-LEGA TA' L- ISTATI GĦARAB

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER (Onor. Michael Bonnici): Bis-saħħa tal-ftehim li ntlaħaq bejn iż-żewġ naħat tal-Kamra, nistieden lill-crew televiżiv tal-PBS sabiex jidħlu ħalli jittrasmettu din is-seduta.

L-impjegati tal-PBS daħlu fil-Kamra u bdew jaqdu d-dmirijiet tagħhom.

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Issa se nissospendi s-seduta għal ftit minuti sakemm Mr Speaker, akkumpanjat mill-Onor.

Amre` Moussa, Segretarju Ġenerali tal-Lega ta' l-Istati Għarab, jidħol fil-Kamra.

Fis-6:32 p.m. is-seduta ġiet sospiża u rriżumiet minuta wara.

MR SPEAKER (Onor. Anton Tabone): Għandi l-pjaċir u l-privileġġ li f'isem il-Membri tal-Parlament u f'ismi bħala l-President tal-Kamra, nilqa' lill- Eċċellenza Tiegħu Amre` Moussa, Segretarju Ġenerali tal-Lega ta' l-Istati Għarab.

Nilqgħu fl-ogħla istituzzjoni ta' pajjiżna, espressjoni vera u ħajja ta' demokrazija parlamentari magħmula minn membri eletti, rappreżentanti tas-sovranità tal-poplu Malti u Għawdxi kollu, b'valuri umani u demokratiċi li l-poplu tagħna ilu jħaddan għal tul ta' żmien.

Bi pjaċir nistieden lis-Segretarju Ġenerali tal-Lega ta' l-Istati Għarab jagħmel id-diskors tiegħu.

HON.

AMRE` MOUSSA: Mr Speaker ̧ distinguished Members of the Parliament, Ladies and Gentlemen.

It is a distinct honour for me to address this august assembly as it is a great pleasure to visit your country to which I am a frequent visitor.

Malta has always played an active and honourable role on the international scene.

Under conditions of the cold war, many of us distinctly remember the contribution made by Malta to the politics of third world and non- alignment.

After the cold war was over, we saw Malta playing a positive role within the Mediterranean family of nations, in particular through the Barcelona process as well as the Mediterranean forum and the rest of Mediterranean activities and councils.

I am sure that wherever Malta directs its attention it is always for the benefit not only of Malta but of so many nations, especially those of the third world and those of the Mediterranean.

Mr Speaker, distinguished Members of the House of Representatives, the world is going through a very serious and dangerous period.

We are facing tremendous challenges, internationally as well as regionally, politically as well as economically, culturally as well as socially.

We feel that and we feel the heat of those challenges in and around the Mediterranean and not only in the Middle East.

You know that in the Mediterranean we have established and promoted a system of cooperation under the Barcelona process.

We have three main files, the first one dealing with security and political issues.

And here we are trying and we shall continue to try to build a Mediterranean order that would provide us all with stability, security and prosperity.

The second file concerning economic cooperation is witnessing important progress in that all the Arab countries, members of the Mediterranean society of nations, have already entered into association agreements with the European Union in order to participate in the forthcoming free trade area stipulated for the year 2010, to be launched at that date.

We hope that by launching this free trade area, the old world around the Mediterranean will be in a position to launch a meaningful, significant, active and beneficial community of economic cooperation, perhaps for the first time in modern history.

As for the cultural file, I would say that culture represents in fact the most serious area for cooperation, for meaningful and true cooperation, especially at the time of challenge to all civilisations and the emergence of theories that either call for or defend the notion of a clash of civilisations and consider it as an inevitability.

I submit that by activating the cultural file of the Barcelona process and by introducing cultural cooperation among the countries of Barcelona, we will be in a position to stand against this negative current that if left unchecked would destroy a lot of societies, and that would be a curse in the decades commencing the 21st century.

The clash of civilisations, its theories and also practices will have to be analysed by us in Barcelona and will have to be fought by us through culture, through cooperation in the cultural field.

Centres for studies, for debates, for arts would do a tremendous job in bringing us together and allowing us the opportunity to stand against the evil called clash of civilisations.

So the activation of this third file or basket is my proposal that I submitted today to the foreign minister of Malta and I am going to submit, on behalf of the Arab countries members of the Barcelona process, to the next council of ministers.

Mr Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, I mentioned the security and political file of the Barcelona that deals with security and stability in the Mediterranean and this immediately calls for attention to the situation in the Middle East.

The situation in the Middle East is going through a very serious and negative period of developments.

The situation is deteriorating.

Now nobody is talking about a process of peace but everybody is talking again about the conflict between Arabs and Israelis.

I wish to categorically state that we in the Arab world believe that the time has come for us to put an end to that conflict and to look to the future from a different angle, the angle of peaceful relations.

For that purpose, a unanimous initiative was adopted and launched in the summit of the League of Arab States in March 2002, only two months ago.

And this initiative calls in clear terms, in clear language, that the Arab countries are ready to put an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict and establish normal peaceful relations with Israel.

The Arab countries are ready to shoulder all the commitments stipulated in UN resolutions and in all documents pertaining to the conflict.

The initiative calls on Israel to honour her commitments of full withdrawal from the occupied territories ̧ occupied in 1967, to support the establishment of a viable and real Palestinian State, to negotiate an agreement on refugees based on the relevant UN resolution and also calls for a just and fair resolution of the Jerusalem issue.

This balanced approach is the only approach that can really bring us to a peaceful settlement.

There can be no possibility that the Arab side could achieve an Arab peace according to all the conditions or prerequisites that many Arabs believe necessary.

By the same token there can be no Israeli peace in accordance with the Isreali requirements of more territory, of an unbalanced peace deal.

Only through a balanced peace agreement would the security of all parties including Israel be guaranteed.

It will never be guaranteed through weapons of mass destruction, through manifestations of violence or through the use of force.

Every action will have a reaction as foreign occupation breeds resistance, peaceful gestures breed peaceful gestures.

We continue to insist on the Arab initiative, the main lines of which I have outlined.

We believe that the Middle East cannot continue on a war footing for years and years to come.

And again, the security of Israel and the security of Arabs will not be attained through confrontation, through violence, but only through a fair and just solution.

But many of us, the majority of those following closely the developments in the Middle East, find it difficult to visualise a peace agreement in the near future.

If the international situation favours one side and undermines the interests of the other, then rest assured that no peace deal under such circumstances will be possible.

We need honest brokership, as we need fairness and objectivety, as we need a role of all peace-loving countries, a role for Europe, a role for the Meditteranean nations to push ahead and insist that the continuation of this confrontation, of this conflict in the Middle East, will adversely affect life in the Meditteranean.

After all the Meditteranean is a Euro-Arab space that we share.

The magnitude of the Middle East conflict is bound to affect all prospects of cooperation, of interaction, of planning for a better future, and I call on you to support a fair, just and comprehensive solution, not as a spectator but as a country that has a stake in peace in the Middle East.

Malta has played that role in the non-aligned movement, in the United Nations, in the Barcelona process, and I do hope and I am confident that Malta will continue the role of upholding the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people in a State of their own, with Jerusalem as its capital, and also upholding the right of all countries, parties to the conflict, to security and upholding the right and all the Meditteranean countries' right to have a stable and secure environment in the Mediterranean.

Mr Speaker, ladies and gentlemen, you will recall that after the end of the cold war we were debating a new world order, trying to agree on that order.

We were approaching the end of the 20th century and we were all busy trying to tell all the big powers that a new international order should be based on consensus, debate and compromise.

We were debating the priority list that had been agreed - or almost agreed - with human rights at the top, disarmament, environment and a new world trade order, all of the United Nations, the restructuring of that organisation.

The order was still in the offing when the sad events of the 11th of September occurred.

And here I should say that the Arab countries in their unanimous will do form part of the international campaign against international terrorism.

We cannot condone what happened or what happens by terrrorists against civilians, against societies, against buildings and against peaceful life in the world.

It is an issue of concern for all of us, counties of the north, of the south, of the east, of the west.

Christian, Moslem, Jewish and all other religions should participate in the campaign against international terrorism.

But we have to be honest in our approach and in our stand against terrorism.

We should not confuse issues.

We submit that international terrorism is an item of priority and it deserves priority, but we submit that there are other issues that should also enjoy priority.

I was saying that we were debating a new international order when we were interrupted by the events of September last, only to see that there is an updating of that international order and change of priorities.

And I once again wish to refer to the fact that many of us believe that together we can combat international terrorism.

A firm stand against foreign military occupation and its practices should also be accorded priority.

Fighting poverty, fighting AIDS, closing the gaps between north and south, all these items are so important for millions and millions of people.

The new agenda for the new international order should include more than one item.

We have discussed and continue to discuss what kind of world we want to see for at least the first decades of this century.

Would it be a world suffering from the same problems we suffered from during the second half of the 20th century?

The time has come for change, for a real new order that eyes the future of the people of the world not the interests of the few.

I am sure that cooperation, the working together of countries like yours, Malta, of the Arab countries, of the European countries, of all others, rich and poor, strong and weak ....

It should be collective work.

Speaking about our rights, we don't want to get more than what we deserve but we should not allow others to get more than what they deserve because whatever they take will be taken from others.

I am here on a mission of peace, to promote more understanding between us in the Arab family of nations and your country and within the framework of a firm belief and the future of the Mediterranean and that the Mediterranean area is but a space that brings us all to live together.

A new just international order as a new just Mediterranean order will be very much beneficial for all of us.

Once again I do thank the distinguished Speaker for his invitation to address this distinguished body and I wish to salute the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and to thank you all. Thank you very much.

(Hon.

Members: Hear, hear) (Applause)

MR SPEAKER: Nirringrazzja lill-Eċċellenza Tiegħu, is-Segretarju Ġenerali tal-Lega ta' l-Istati Għarab.

Issa għandi l-pjaċir insejjaħ lill-Prim Ministru biex jagħmel id-diskors tiegħu.

L-Onor.

Eddie Fenech Adami.

ONOR.

EDDIE FENECH ADAMI (Prim Ministru): Mr Speaker, Eċċellenza Segretarju Ġenerali ta' l-Istati Għarab, huwa bi pjaċir kbir li f'isem il- gvern u l-poplu Malti, nagħtik merħba f'dan il-Parlament.

Kieku kelli nagħżel il-kliem li bih nitkellem, naħseb li ma jkun xejn diffiċli li l- Eċċellenza Tiegħek tifhem il-kliem li jien inlissen bil-Malti.

Jidhirli imma li aħjar f'dan il-mument, wara li tajtek merħba, naqleb għall-Ingliż.

Mr Secretary General, as you indeed well commented, Malta has taken a very active part in international fora, particularly whenever issues were being discussed regarding the Mediterranean region.

No doubt the Barcelona process was intended to give new impetus to reaching agreements, fostering stability and encouraging prosperity among Mediterranean States, and Malta has throughout tried to give of its best in this process.

You, Mr Secretary General, are aware that Malta has also been quite active in the OSCE, particularly with regard to Mediterranean issues.

We have been active in the western Mediterranean forum, the Mediterranean forum of ministers for home affairs which was set up on your initiative, as well as in the conference on security and co-operation in the Mediterranean under the auspices of the IPU.

Indeed, in this regard, the parliamentary delegation from Malta to the IPU was recently at the heart of the proposal made in terms of a document entitled "Fundamental Characteristics of the Future Parliamentary Assembly of Mediterranean States".

Malta was one of the prime movers, saying that the time has come when Mediterranean States should come together at the level of a parliamentary assembly, and we do really hope that this will take shape in the form of new institutions which will bring together not just governments but our people in the Mediterranean States through their representatives in their respective parliaments.

No doubt, as you so well remarked Mr Secretary General, we are all worried at the situation that has developed, particularly over recent months, in the Middle East.

We deplore all acts of violence, whether they take the form of military action or terrorist action, which hit innocent people, whoever they might be, Palestinians, Israelis or indeed any other people.

We have witnessed lately a humiliation, I would say, of the Palestinian people, which they do not deserve and I think experts should be spurred by all countries to put the peace process in the Middle East on course again.

Malta has always followed with great interest events in the Middle East and we have always given full support to the Palestinian people in their quest for them to have their own independent State.

Equally of course, we have always said that Israel is entitled to peace and secure borders, but it is indeed time that the two states live together in peace and security.

You referred, Mr Secretary General, to the meeting in Beirut of the Arab League and the plan for peace that was unanimously adopted at that meeting.

We sincerely wish that this indeed will happen and we note that initiatives have been taken by different countries, and I would refer particularly to the European Union which now has committed itself firmly to do its best to help the peace process.

You referred, Mr Secretary General, to other problems besides the problems regarding the Palestinian issue.

No doubt, in the Mediterranean quite a few countries do suffer because of environmental degradation.

They suffer because of the big economic divide.

We're seeing a new phenomenon taking place amongst Mediterranean countries, none excluded, which one can term as criminal activities, for example in the trafficking of drugs, often to finance terrorism.

The events of the 11th September in the United States gave all of us, I think, a rude awakening as to the problems which are facing the world today.

We all held hope at the turn of the century that we could be ushering in an era of peace.

Changes are taking place very fast, but instead of looking forward to a new era of peace it seems that we have entered a new era of great turmoil.

Changes are indeed taking place very very fast and I think it is up to us all to be doing our best to meet the new challenges.

Mr Secretary General, you are no new visitor to Malta.

You have been here before in your capacity as foreign minister of Egypt and we welcome you again here in your new capacity.

The speech that you have just delivered to this House shows that you indeed, as Secretary General, are one of the key players in the Mediterranean and I am sure that your wisdom will help guide the members of the Arab League to find that consensus which can create stability, peace and progress in the Mediterranean.

I assure you of my government's and of the Maltese people's firm stand behind these objectives.

Thank You.

MR SPEAKER: Nirringrazzja lill-Prim Ministru u issa bi pjaċir insejjaħ lill-Onor.

Alfred Sant biex jagħmel id-diskors tiegħu.

Il-Kap ta' l- Oppożizzjoni.

ONOR.

ALFRED SANT (Kap ta' l-Oppożizzjoni): Mr Secretary General, on behalf of the Maltese people, of the Malta Labour Party, of my colleagues here in Parliament and in my own name, allow me to welcome you to Malta and to this Assembly.

You lead an organisation that brings together the countries of the Arab nation, many of whom are our friends and neighbours of the Mediterranean.

We know you too as a very able and sympathetic leader of Egypt's foreign policy.

You have visited Malta in that high office.

You impressed us all by the dynamism and insight with which you approached the challenges of Mediterranean cooperation.

We Maltese, living in a small island in the centre of the Middle Sea, and at the frontier between the north and south of this vital area, shared then the concerns of your diplomatic efforts, when representing your country so capably.

We share your concerns even more now, when you lead the initiatives of the Arab League.

You seek to provide welcome momentum for the cause of the Arab nation.

For these are times when regional and global cohesion is more likely to be promoted or undermined - as the case may be - by market forces, rather than by the enthusiasm of social and cultural affinities.

Left alone, market forces all too frequently serve the interest of profits, not of peoples.

Our strategic location has made us Maltese more aware than other peoples of the interplay resulting from cultural, ethnic and religious diversity.

For long centuries, our island operated as a frontier fortress targeted as a threat, perceived or real, to the north or to the south.

That has driven home one lesson among our people, not least the younger generations.

We must insist that no longer will we accept to serve as a fortress.

Malta must project itself as a bridge for peace and dialogue, where people from north and south, can meet, do business, relax.

I have expressly said: a bridge.

We are realists.

We do not dream of providing the only meeting place in the Middle Sea.

But we strongly believe that Malta could be one such bridge and not the least effective.

Our roots are Mediterranean.

Our society is European.

Our language is based on Arabic.

Our dealings in investments, goods and services are important with Europe, the US, Russia and the rest of the Western world, and they are just as important with the Arab nation.

For these complex and vital reasons, Malta should be, and should remain a neutral state.

Our neutrality should be a core defining element of Malta's policy, as an independent nation state.

We do not subscribe to the belief that with the apparent demise of superpower rivalry, Malta's neutrality has become obsolete.

Indeed, I hold that we need to recognise how the existing phrasing of the Maltese constitution on our neutrality has become more meaningful in and of itself.

Meanwhile, consonant with our neutrality, Labour will back all efforts to continue to build fruitful relations with our Arab neighbours and friends.

After all, it was Labour which really first set these relations on a proper basis of friendship, solidarity and cooperation.

With the Libyan Jamahiriya, we will favour and welcome active and privileged cooperation in the political, economic and cultural sectors based on the complementarity between our two societies in industry, tourism, investment and other services - based too on the need to bring our peoples closer together.

When back in government after the next election, Labour will strengthen existing relations with Libya and will propose new concrete measures.

With Tunisia, Labour believes that the already growing links of friendship and business in industry and services, need to be consolidated and promoted further.

With Egypt, Labour aims to develop strenghtening bonds that will put commerce, tourism and culture at the top of our agenda.

With Algeria and Morocco, much needs still to be done to renew initiatives that were undertaken some years ago, and that for a while have not borne the fruit expected of them.

With the countries of the Arab Gulf, already there has been a quickening pace of goodwill and good business.

We are determined to give ever increasing scope for initiatives that build on the successes that have been achieved in services, especially trade, travel and investment.

With Syria and Iraq, the potential for good cooperation is enormous.

We are encouraged by the news of how joint ventures between Maltese and operators from these countries and how these ventures are progressing.

We will give full backing to such ventures.

Moreover, we believe that a reasonable and satisfactory settlement should now be reached under United Nations aegis, so that the sanctions that have caused great hardship to the Iraqi people and that have been imposed for too long against their country, are finally brought to an end.

Most importantly, as you have just indicated, Mr Secretary General, a just and honourable settlement of the Palestinian issue must be considered as an overriding priority for the Mediterranean, not least in the context of relations between the West and the Arab nation.

We support, without any reservation the objective of an independent and viable state of Palestine, freely agreed between Palestinans and Isrealis.

We equally support the objective of an independent state of Israel secure and recognised by all within it's borders.

With sorrow we have witnessed the developments of the past two years, by which a breakthrough that gave full hopes for peace in Palestine has degenerated into carnage and spiralling levels of hatred.

We express full solidarity with Chairman Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian people in their struggle to win the right of living free in their own homeland.

And we express disagreement with the means and measures that Isreal has followed in recent times.

Labour strongly believes that the way forward is that defined and followed with great courage and wisdom by Yitzhak Rabin, whom I had the privilege years ago of hearing address the Socialist International Congress in Berlin to outline these plans for an honourable and lasting peace.

Unfortunately the persisting crisis in the Middle East makes it more difficult to circumscribe the dimensions of the terrorists menace that hangs over the world.

It is wrong to equate the struggle against terrorism with some global clash of civilisations between West and East, between the West and Islam.

Instead we must be all prepared to collaborate in a well guided, well calibrated efforts, not just to attack the symbols of terrorism but also it's root causes.

These also arise from injustice and from global forms of exploitation driven uniquely by the profit motive that undermine the social structures of different peoples and regions.

Against terrorism there can be no neutralism.

Equally though, we need to assert the priority of human social rights as meaningful values that apply to all humanity.

However such values cannot be subsumed in a Euro-centric or so called Western way of doing things.

We, who live in the Meditteranean are best placed to understand this.

On the other hand the respect for culture diversity and tolerance must not be felt as a threat to the autonomy of people who wish to live where they were born according to the traditional values of their own community.

We need to understand how best we can help people come closer together and accept dissimilar lifestyles to their own, without feeling threatened in the pursuit of their own life.

We urgently need to tackle the problems of global and regional poverty and deprivation which are making millions to seek a better life away from their own home.

At the Medittaranean level there is still full scope for a better re-alignment of policies and a deeper organic solidarity between the States and the Nations of the Meditteranean littoral.

This is why we have always supported and helped to promote initiatives for pan Meditteranean cooperation.

We have done so for example, in the context of the Euro-Med process.

But just as importantly, Labour has encouraged the initiative of a council, a forum, an organisation, call it what you will, that brings together in an acceptable institutional framework all Meditteranean States.

Such an initiative has been promoted by the Maltese Parliament in recent years within the International Parliamentary Union, so as to organise within that Union a statutory assembly for Meditteranean parliaments.

However, it is clear that bolder initiatives are required for Meditteranean cooperation on political, institutional, economic, social and environmental issues that are of vital interest to all our peoples.

Mr Secretary General, the Arab league, under your leadership, is well placed to play prominent role in this challenging task.

May I assure you that, on the lines that I have just indicated, the Malta Labour Party will give full support to your endevours to make a better future happen for the Arab nation.

Thank you.

MR SPEAKER: Grazzi.

Nieħu l-okkażjoni biex nirringrazzja mill-ġdid lill- Eċċellenza Tiegħu, lill-Prim Ministru u lill-Kap ta' l-Oppożizzjoni u ngħarraf li s-seduta hija issa sospiża għal żewġ minuti sakemm jiena nakkumpanja lill-Onor.

Amre` Moussa barra mill-Kamra.

THE DEPUTY SPEAKER: Skond il-ftehim milħuq, is-Seduta hija aġġornata għal għada, l-Erbgħa, 5 ta' Ġunju, 2002 fid-9.00 p.m. bl-aġenda kif komunikata l-bieraħ mill-Viċi Prim Ministru.

Grazzi ħafna.

Fis-7:18 p.m. il-Kamra aġġornat mingħajr ma saret il-mistoqsija.