MINISTER GEORGE W. VELLA TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MINISTERIAL MEETING OF THE MOVEMENT OF NON-ALIGNED COUNTRIES

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Environment, the Hon. Dr. George W. Vella, will be leaving Malta this morning to participate in the Ministerial Meeting of the Movement of Non-Aligned countries.  The Ministerial Meeting will be held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia from 18th to 20th May 1998 and will have as its main purpose the preparation of the next Summit of Heads of State or Government of the Non-Aligned Movement to be held in Dublin, South Africa later this year.

The majority of States members of the Non-Aligned Movement, today consisting of 113 countries, will be represented by Ministers of Foreign Affairs.  The Ministers are expected to pronounce themselves on a number of issues considered to be of major importance to the Movement, including the strengthening of the United Nations and in particular the reform of the Security Council, Disarmament and International Security, Palestine, Security and Cooperation in the Mediterranean, as well as Economic and Social questions.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Environment is scheduled to address the Ministerial Meeting next Tuesday.  A number of bilateral contacts and meetings are also envisaged.  The Delegation of Malta, led by the Hon. Dr. George Vella will be composed of Ambassador Saviour F. Borg, Director, Multilateral Affairs at the Foreign Ministry, Ambassador George Saliba, Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mr. Chris Grima, First Secretary and Mr. Joe Sant, Private Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister.

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs will be travelling to Colombia via Rome where he will be meeting with Maltese Consuls participating in a one day seminar entitled “Sell Malta in Italy”.  The participants in this event, sponsored by Bank of Valletta and Mid-Med Bank, will also be addressed by speakers from METCO, the Malta Financial Services Centre, MDC and NTOM among others.