Malta and Libya took what the Maltese government described as "a quantum leap" on Monday with the signing of a memorandum of understanding on energy supply.
The deal was announced during a joint press conference between the Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat (pictured) and his Libyan counterpart Mr Ali Zeidan Mohamed.
Malta will be supplied by Libya with an amount of oil products, including processed and crude oil, diesel, petrol, jet fuel and LPG, with favourable terms and conditions. The agreement will be implemented as soon as oil production in Libya resume under normal conditions in the near future.
This is a very concrete measure by which this government will make sure that Enemalta is on a sound footing and will help shield Maltese consumers and industries from excessive fluctuations in the world market.
It will help stabilise the price of fuel for the benefit of the Maltese economy. The Maltese government statement added:
"This is a ground-breaking memorandum of understanding which puts forward a number of key agreements ... the details will be discussed in the next Joint Commission Meeting in Tripoli."
In the next few weeks the Libyan Transport Minister together with his delegation will visit Malta and discuss with the Hon. Joe Mizzi, Minister for Transport, how to help the Libyan aviation industry being serviced from Malta and other opportunities that might arise.
Mr Zeidan thanked Malta for its significant role during the Libyan revolution and stated that the Libyan government would like to boost its relationship with Malta especially when it comes to economy politics, education, culture and technical and also boost oil and gas relationship based on the conditions agreed upon.
The Libyan delegation was made up of the Minsiter for Transport and Economy, Minister for Oil and Gas, assistants and the Head of the Office of the Prime Minister of Libya. This shows the strong intentions to boost Libya’s and Malta’s bilateral relationships. The Prime Minister, the Hon. Joseph Muscat, lauded the good will shown by Libya to help its small neighbour.
(Source: Maltese Government)
