OPENING ADDRESS BY THE HON JOHN DALLI, MINISTER OF FINANCE, AT THE 9TH MEETING OF THE HEADS OF EUROPEAN CUSTOMS INVESTIGATION / INTELLIGENCE SERVICES - ORGANISED BY THE MALTA CUSTOMS DIVISION UNDER THE AUSPICES OF THE WORLD CUSTOMS ORGANISATION

It gives me great pleasure to be here today to welcome you to Malta and to address this meeting of Heads of European Customs Investigation / Intelligence Services.

I consider this meeting a very important one and one which should make a very valid contribution towards our constant and indefatigable struggle to counteract any attempts of illegal importation and / or trafficking.

This Ninth Meeting in Malta is the first of its kind being held in the new Millennium and follows the previous one held in Antalya, Turkey, last year where twenty five European countries, members of the World Customs Organisation as well as a number of observers attended.

During the Antalya Meeting, the use of electronic communication systems between Customs services was discussed. As a matter of fact, the Customs Enforcement Network (CEN) was introduced to participants during this meeting. I am pleased to say that Malta Customs are participating in the project and have informed the W.C.O., that they will be making available to all participants any information available to Malta by inputting such data directly into the CEN system.

We now have available a pool of information from international sources; information which is accessible to all of us through our electronic systems and which can be very useful in our struggle against illicit importation.

As you are aware, the main scope of these meetings is to strengthen current co-operation between all Customs Services with particular emphasis in the field of anti-fraud and anti-drugs activities. It is here that we must make more efforts to create new forms of preventive controls, strengthen present ones and implement new methods for monitoring all information leading to suspicious attempts of illegal activities and passing such information to all our colleagues in the Intelligence Services for necessary action on their part.

All of you will surely acknowledge the fact that the drugs problem has grown to large proportions and is adversely affecting our younger generation and, in some ways, even our social structure. It is common knowledge that illicit drugs lead on to other social problems such as smuggling, thefts, murders etc. I would therefore urge one and all not to leave any stone unturned and address our greatest efforts at controlling this modern scourge. Here I would also like to emphasise the importance of action by all concerned towards ascertaining very strict controls against attempts of smuggling of arms, nuclear materials, dual use goods, as well as other similar items which can be utilised in the proliferation of illicit goods and hazardous materials.

These meetings are also important as they give the participating Heads of Intelligence / Investigation Services, an excellent opportunity to tackle directly with their counterparts any difficulty or problem which has been encountered, thereby facilitating co-operation, exchange of information and better understanding through close personal contact, enhancing lines of communication between International Intelligence / Investigation services and opening new channels of communications where these are lacking.

I am informed that during the Eighth meeting at Antalya, members were encouraged to accede to the Nairobi Convention. On our part, we have studied the national and international implications involved if and when Malta would sign the convention, and I am happy to state that with the safeguards to the national laws and regulations incorporated in the Convention, any impediments to our accession have been thrashed out.

The Maltese Government is now actively pursuing a policy by which we would accede to the Convention within as short a period of time as possible. For us accession would mean the chance to participate in a broader exchange of information on illicit trafficking, more effective co-operation between member states, accessibility of evidence, testimony, etc. by member countries for use in judicial proceedings, use of a member state's pool of information and documentation, as well as direct contact with services responsible for prevention, investigation and repression of fraud.

These initiatives and international meetings will surely contribute towards the strengthening of existing co-operation with our European partners, especially now when we are on the threshold of a new era and also in view of Malta's pending application of becoming a full member of the European Union when Malta will be considered as the new European Union border on the southern flank of a wider Europe. Malta's role will then be viewed in a new dimension in view of its strategic position and the Malta Customs will have an extremely important role to carry out as the watchdogs of these Southern borders of Europe.

In order to be able to honour our role with more efficiency, we will be embarking on a series of technical training projects in the enforcement field. The first workshop under the auspices of the W.C.O. will be on commercial fraud, enforcement and repression. This workshop is due to be held in Malta towards the end of this month. We will also give importance to meetings of the Enforcement Committee of the W.C.O. with the aim of strengthening personal contacts with other Customs Enforcement Agencies all over the world. I am certain that these initiatives will bring about the desired results.

Finally, I augur that you will have an enjoyable stay here in Malta, where although we do not boast of any mountains, rivers or exceptional scenery, we are well known for our hospitality, history, cultural heritage and, though with very limited natural resources, a very good level of social and economic development. I understand that your programme includes some free time to enjoy our hospitality and history.

I wish you an interesting and fruitful meeting and look forward to a successful outcome.

I now declare this meeting open.