THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS MEETS THE MINISTER FOR EUROPEAN COMMUNITY POLICIES OF ITALY

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Joe Borg, this afternoon met with the Minister for European Community Policies of Italy, the Hon. Gianni Franscesco Mattioli, in Rome. During the meeting the two Ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Co-operation between the Office of the Minister for European Community Policies of Italy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Malta.

This agreement, originally signed in Malta on 21 October 1999, has consequently been renewed for a period of a further two years until 2002 and reaffirms the determination of the two Ministries to continue to promote their cooperation with regard to the pre-accession process of Malta to the European Union.

Earlier in the afternoon, Minister Joe Borg also met with the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Senator Rino Serri. Duing the meetings the Ministers discussed bilateral issues including ongoing negotiations on the Fifth Italo-Maltese Financial Protocol as well as Malta's EU accession process.

Minister Borg will be travelling to Tunisia this evening for the opening of the Bank of Valletta Representative Office in Tunis. He is also expected to meet with the Tunisian Foreign Minister, Habib Ben Yahia.