At the invitation of the President of Malta, Her Excellency Ms Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, the Hon’ble Vice President of India, Shri M. Venkaiah Naidu paid an official visit to Malta from 16-18 September 2018. The Vice President was accompanied by Shri Shiv
Pratap Shukla, MOS (Finance), three Members of Parliament from Rajya Sabha- Shri Prasanna Acharya, Smt Vijila Sathyananth, Ms Saroj Pandey and one Member of Parliament from Lok Sabha- Shri Raghav Lakhanpal along with other senior government officials.
The Vice President was accorded a ceremonial welcome by the Maltese President who also hosted a Banquet lunch for him. The two leaders discussed the whole gamut of bilateral relations and also our cooperation in multilateral and international forums. They agreed
that our shared principles of democracy, peaceful co-existence and family values bring synergy to our relationship. While expressing satisfaction at the enhanced level of political interactions, they hoped that it would also translate into enhanced business
and people-to-people ties. President Coleiro acknowledged Indian diaspora’s positive contribution to the Maltese society especially in sectors like Health care and Information Technology. The fact that both Indian and Maltese economies are performing very
well, the scope of mutual cooperation is very high in several sectors such as ICT, pharmaceuticals & health care, maritime cooperation, tourism etc. President Coleiro thanked the Government of India for opening a resident High Commission of India in Malta.
The two leaders strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms, saying that there could be no justification for terrorism. They agreed that scourge of terrorism is a global threat and requires a global response. There is an urgent need to strengthen the global
counter-terrorism legal framework to combat this global menace.
The two leaders expressed concern about issue of global warming and climate change. President Coleiro commended India’s effort to focus on renewable energy and the initiative of International Solar Alliance. Malta is giving a positive consideration to joining
the ISA as a partner country. The Vice President conveyed his best wishes for the upcoming National Day of Malta on 21 September. He also congratulated the Maltese President for the successful Presidency of the European Council last year.
Three Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) namely; (i) MoU on Maritime Cooperation between Ministry of Shipping, India and Ministry of Transport, Infrastructure and Capital Projects, Malta; (ii) MoU on mutual cooperation between the Foreign Service Institute,
India and The Mediterranean Academy of Diplomatic Studies, University of Malta, and (iii) MoU in the field of Tourism Cooperation between India and Malta, were signed in the presence of the two leaders.
Later, the Vice President had a meeting with Dr. Angelo Farrugia, Speaker of House of Representatives. Hailing the democratic traditions in both the countries, the two leaders discussed their respective legislative systems and committed themselves to enhance
parliamentary exchanges.
The Vice President had a meeting with the Acting Prime Minister (Minister of Economy) Dr. Christian Cardona, in which the Maltese Education Minister and the Foreign Minister also participated. Dr. Cardona and his colleagues shared Malta’s growth story and reflected
upon the possibilities of cooperation. The Maltese Foreign Minister agreed on India’s position that the United Nations is in need of urgent reforms to reflect the realities of today. Malta confirmed its support to India’s candidature to non-permanent seat
of United Nations Security Council for the years 2021-2022, with a reciprocal assurance from India for supporting Maltese candidature for the years 2023-2024. The Maltese were generally supportive of our other candidatures such as membership to the NSG and
Human Rights Council.
The two leaders addressed the India-Malta business forum. The business forum was organized jointly by the Malta Chamber of Commerce and the Confederation of Indian Industries. The leaders urged the business persons on both side to take advantage of complementary
nature of two economies and explore opportunities of enhancing trade and investment ties.
The Vice President thanked President Coleiro for the warm welcome and hospitality extended to him and his delegation.
Valletta
18 September, 2018