Mur Lura
Malta Statement at the UN General Assebly Debate
PR2003
17/10/1997
17/10/1997
| Ambassador George Saliba yesterday addressed the first Committee of | the General Assembly of the U.N. in which he noted that recent years had seen progress through the indefinite extension NPT which remained a cornerstone in the non-proliferation regime. Malta urged those States not yet parties to the Treaty to accede at the earliest and to conclude safeguards with the IAEA. |
| Ambassador Saliba welcomed recent treaties and support for the | establishment of a nuclear-weapons free zone in Africa and South-East Asia and called for the implementation of such a zone in the Middle East. As a Member State of the OPCW as well as the Executive Council, he assured of Malta's continued efforts to work assiduously to strengthen the OPCW and to contribute towards the full implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention and its universality. |
| Ambassador Saliba outlined that the IAEA had approved Malta's | application for membership. This was a further demonstration of Malta's commitment to policies which oppose and prohibit the production, use or threat of use of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction. Membership of the Agency would enhance Malta's role and contribution to security and co-operation in the Mediterranean region particularly in the field of nuclear disarmament. |
| The Malta Government attached increasing importance to Export | Controls and the control of material and equipment which could be used for dual purposes. Far from being seen as a restriction on trade, such controls should be viewed as a means to further enhance security measures. He recalled the statement by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Environment during a seminar on Non-Proliferation Policies and Export Controls, held in Malta last year, namely that "The control of the international illicit trade in arms, and the prevention of nuclear terrorism, are two areas where countries simply cannot operate in isolation". |
| Malta looked forward to the finalisation of a verification protocol | on the Biological Weapons Convention and urge the start of negotiations on a cut-off Treaty on fissile material. A few small, but nevertheless important, steps have been taken in the direction of greater transparency in armaments through the UN Register of Conventional Arms, Standardised Reporting on Military Expenditure, Objective Information on Military Matters including Transparency of Military Expenditures. Ambassador Saliba characterised the Ottawa Process as a commendable initiative and stated that Malta looked forward to the opening for signature of that Treaty on Anti-Personnel landmines at the end of this year. Of equal importance was the question relating to the illicit transfer of conventional weapons and their link to destablilising forces such as terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering. |
| Malta, since the Helsinki Final Act, has been keen to further | develop an inter-regional approach to security and stability in the Euro-Mediterranean area. The meeting of Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Euro-Mediterranean area, held in Malta last April, had led to further advances in the field of confidence and security-building measures. Serious and effective follow-up to its conclusions would form the basis for future development in this field as it hopefully would in the other pillars addressed by the Conference. He explained Government's policy of active site-specific neutrality recalling the statement of the Prime Minister in UNGA 52 that, "placed as it is at the southern rim of Europe and at the ideals of European integration as well as those of Mediterranean unity". Malta's neutrality was a "direct response to the very specific and unique geopolitical factors that currently exist in the surrounding region". |
| The ultimate objective of Malta's Mediterranean Policy is the | transformation of the region into a politically stable and economically prosperous, demilitarised, nuclear-weapon-free-zone. The establishment of such a zone would further build on the international community's desire to further consolidate the NPT. Established on the basis of arrangements unanimously agreed to by all the States of the region, such a zone would inevitably contribute to peace and stability in the Mediterranean. He reiterated the Prime Minister's proposal that more attention be given to the situation in the Mediterranean through the Department of Political Affairs through the establishment of a Mediterranean Desk within this Department. |
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