Deputy Prime Minister underlies need for improved Inter-Departmental Co-Ordination

The Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and theEnvironment, the Hon. George Vella, underlined the need for improvedco-ordination between various Ministries/departments and the MultilateralAffairs Department within the Foreign Ministry.

The Deputy Prime Minister was addressing senior officials fromvarious Government Departments during the third in a series of seminarsorganised by the Multilateral Affairs Department, in collaboration with theStaff Development Organisation in the Office of the Prime Minister.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasized that the MultilateralAffairs Department provided Government and Malta's Embassies abroad withinsight and advice on a whole range of issues under consideration ininternational fora such as the United Nations, the Council of Europe and theOSCE.

The Deputy Prime Minister made clear that because of our limitedresources, it is important that the duplication of competencies should beavoided. He noted that more valid use should be made of documents regularlyreceived from international organisations and our overseas posts. This could bedone through better dissemination and analysis of these documents. Dr. Velladescribed as a step in the right direction the identification of contactpersons within those Ministries whose work is, in some way, related tointernational organisations to which Malta is accredited.

The Deputy Prime Minister underscored the need to tap intobenefits which result from our membership of international organisations to whichGovernment made considerable financial contributions.

Dr. Vella concluded that contacts with foreign officials shouldinvariably be cleared by the Foreign Ministry which should then promptly beprovided with a written report on the results of these contacts. He added thatthe Foreign Ministry was well-equipped, through its embassies overseas and itscontacts with foreign diplomats based in Malta, for any follow-up action.

Earlier on, senior officials from the Multilateral AffairsDepartment made presentations on the nature and scope of their work. Thesubject areas which were addressed included disarmament, security and regionalorganisations, technical co-operation, Commonwealth Affairs, trade, social andhumanitarian issues, the environment, the Council of Europe and the OSCE. Eachparticipant was provided with detailed handouts of these presentations.

In bringing the seminar to a conclusion,Ambassador Saviour F. Borg, Director of the Multilateral Affairs Department,thanked all those who attended. Ambassador Borg added that the objective ofimproved co-ordination with his Department would be realised as soon as some ofthe proposals discussed during the seminars are put in place.