[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 150 (Tuesday, December 20, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: December 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                    COMMENTS ON THE NATION OF MALTA

                                 ______


                         HON. EARL F. HILLIARD

                               of alabama

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 20, 1994

  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, it is inherent in Washington's role as the 
Capital of the free world for heads of state to come here for 
consultations and discussions with the leaders of the United States, 
and unfortunately many of their visits go unnoticed. However, one such 
visit which did not go unnoticed was a tour by the Prime Minister of 
Malta, the Honorable Fenech-Adami.
  Prime Minister Fenech-Adami was the leader of a delegation which 
included his deputy prime minister/minister of foreign affairs, the 
honorable Guido de Marco. The delegation from Malta met with President 
Clinton, the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor, the 
chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as the 
chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
  It is wonderful for the United States to host a delegation of leaders 
from another nation who exemplify the characteristics of honor and 
integrity. In an age when many of the nations of the world are 
entangled in blood feuds and ethnic genocide, it is refreshing to know 
that there are still nations, like Malta, who have able and fair-minded 
leaders.
  A recent article in the Washington Times by Andrew Borowiec, 
succinctly described the positive changes which the strategic island of 
Malta has undergone since the 1987 election of Dr. Fenech-Adami. I 
hereby submit the aforementioned Washington Times article for inclusion 
in the Congressional Record.

              [From the Washington Times, Sept. 25, 1994]

        Malta's Prime Minister Touts Island as New Business Base

                          (By Andrew Borowiec)

       Seven years of conservative rule have turned Malta into a 
     prosperous island striving to become a major center of 
     business activity in the western Mediterranean, its prime 
     minister said yesterday.
       Pointless prestige projects have been discarded, 
     infrastructure has been developed, and Malta is anxious to 
     join the European Union, Edward Fenech-Adami told editors and 
     reporters of The Washington Times.
       Because of structural problems in the EU, Malta's 
     membership cannot be considered until 1996, ``although 
     legally we are entitled to it now,'' he said.
       South of Sicily and a short distance from Tunisia, the 
     ``Island of Honey and Roses'' remains painfully aware of the 
     threat of Islamic fundamentalism battering Algeria.
       Mr. Fenech-Adami described the Islamic movement as a 
     ``cauldron that has to be watched'' and said the solution is 
     ``not to suppress it now and then, but eliminate it.''
       With a population of 370,000 and an area of 122 square 
     miles, barely twice that of the District of Columbia, Malta 
     is a bastion of Roman Catholicism. It has three churches per 
     square mile.
       The overwhelming influence of the church was challenged 
     somewhat by the socialists who were voted out of power in 
     1987.
       Overcoming the opposition of labor unions, the government 
     this week drafted a major plan to revamp the huge shipyards 
     it inherited from Britain upon independence in 1964.
       Mr. Fenech-Adami described the agreement as a 
     ``milestone,'' saying Malta no longer will build ships, but 
     will develop the yards into joint ventures making containers 
     and cranes.
       Trying to keep the shipyards working ``was a desperate act 
     on the part of the socialist government,'' he said. When the 
     socialists flirted with Libya before the rise to power of Mr. 
     Fenech-Adami's Nationalist Party, Libyan gunboats were 
     repaired in the shipyards.
       Although under his leadership Malta has distanced itself 
     from Libya, Mr. Fenech-Adami said a ``good working 
     relationship'' continues and ``the proximity of Libya cannot 
     be ignored.''
       Mr. Fenech-Adami said Malta has registered constant 
     economic growth in recent years, including 8.1 percent last 
     year. Unemployment is 4 percent on an island whose men in the 
     past frequently left in search of work.
       The inflation rate has been reduced to 4 percent, he said. 
     ``We now think of Malta as a hub, promoting it as a center of 
     international trade and business activity.''
       Discussing the plans for Malta's EU membership, Mr. Fenech-
     Adami said: ``The prospects are good. Malta has gained a lot 
     of credibility. Our low unemployment--and I call it full 
     employment--is due to the high degree of confidence.''

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