BRI Boosts Malta-China Ties

Known as the “heart of the Mediterranean,” the island country of Malta in Southern Europe has long been a maritime and transportation hub connecting the North and the South, the East and the West. It has hence played the key role of springboard for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to advance into Africa and Europe along the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road. A proactive BRI participant, Malta joined the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank in 2015 as a founding member.

In November 2018, when then Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat attended the 1st China International Import Expo, Malta and China signed a Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation on the BRI, covering a broad range of areas. They included infrastructure, energy, health, education, culture, science & technology, tourism, and financial services.

Five years later, bilateral cooperation on the BRI has gathered pace. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the bilateral trade volume in goods reached US $330 million, a year-on-year increase of 15.5 percent. As ever more Chinese citizens choose Malta as one of their favored European holiday destinations, heightened bilateral tourism cooperation is expected. Chinese tourists visiting Malta in 2019 exceeded 10,000 – a number that Malta’s tourism authorities predict will be surpassed in 2024.

In an interview with China Today, Malta’s Ambassador to China John Busuttil shared his views on the BRI, China’s vision of a global community with a shared future and global sustainable development, as well as the current momentum of bilateral ties.

China Today: How is the bilateral cooperation progressing under the BRI?

Ambassador John Busuttil: Malta, like a number of other European Union member states, attaches both value and significance to the BRI. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in 2018 was an opportunity to enhance bilateral cooperation in various fields, and has led to fruitful outcomes, such as power generation in Malta.

As a small island state, the provision of energy for electric power is crucial to Malta’s competitiveness and economic growth. In this regard, In this regard, the investment of Shanghai Electric Power Company in Malta’s power generation plays a role in ensuring Malta’s security of energy supply.

Over the past five years, Maltese exports to China averaged €42 million per year, with 2021, when exports reached €62.9 million, emerging as the strongest year. On the other hand, Malta’s import from China averaged around €261million per year. These, of course, are small sums as regards global trade, but Malta is part of the EU, which is the largest single market area. We see ample room for collaboration in various fields, including fisheries, and I look forward to enhanced cooperation that is of mutual benefit to our citizens.

Malta remains committed to safeguarding an international environment that facilitates free and open commercial relations with its trading partners, and therefore sees great value in China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

China Today: Could you please comment on the current momentum of bilateral ties?

Ambassador John Busuttil: China and Malta celebrated the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations on 31st January 2022. Despite their geographical distance and difference in size, Malta and China have nevertheless built a close relationship over the last 50 years, one which includes cooperation in the fields of investment, tourism, education, and culture. Relations are strong and solid. During this period, both countries have deeply benefitted from bilateral collaboration in various fields, having signed over 60 agreements dealing with a multitude of issues that include trade, culture, transport, and energy. Despite disparities in size and population, there exists a balanced partnership forged over many years of mutual respect and admiration. Both countries have amazingly rich histories, strong mercantile traditions, and a firm belief in family values. Various High-Level meetings have punctuated this longstanding and mutually beneficial relationship.

China Today: In his reply to a letter from teachers and students of the "China Corner" at St. Margaret College Secondary School in Malta in August 2022, Chinese President Xi Jinping encouraged more young Maltese to participate proactively in people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and Malta. What do you think of President Xi’s reply, and how are bilateral people-to-people exchanges progressing?

Ambassador John Busuttil: President Xi’s letter of reply reflects the centrality of people-to-people exchanges to bilateral relations, and how language is a core component of this essential form of interaction. Much like my native Maltese, Chinese is not an easy language, but for many years it has been an attractive subject of study for those seeking access to the world of business in the East. Interest among young people in learning Chinese is expected to flourish in Malta due to China’s continued importance in international politics and commerce. In this regard it is important that China continues to open up for investment opportunities and ideas coming from Europe.

Over the course of the past five decades, Malta has demonstrated through its relations with China its firm commitment to the creation and safeguarding of an international environment conducive to international peace built on multilateralism, and to free and open commercial relations with its trading partners. Malta will strive to build on its strong track record as regards cultural and people-to-people exchanges with China by reaffirming its openness to initiatives whose aim is to foster a coordinated and coherent dialogue that enables cooperation in areas of shared interest, and mediation in areas of contrast.

China Today: Ensuing from the BRI, China has proposed the Global Development Initiative (GDI), Global Security Initiative (GSI), and Global Civilization Initiative (GCI) in order to act on the vision of building a global community with a shared future. What do you think of China’s vision of building a community with a shared future for mankind? And what do you think of the role of China’s initiatives in helping the world meet the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development?

Ambassador John Busuttil: The vision of a global community of shared future entails efforts to increase interpersonal contact between communities and peoples. In August, I participated in a conference in Nanchang for the launch of the International Tourism Alliance of Silk Road Cities. In the spirit of “peace and cooperation, openness and inclusiveness, mutual learning and mutual benefit” as embodied in the Silk Road, the Alliance acts as a platform for cities of different countries to deepen friendly exchanges and pragmatic cooperation in the field of tourism, so providing institutional support for a better synergy, efficiency, and sustainability of such cooperation.

As part of this Alliance, the city of St Lucia in Malta will join the group of 40 founding member cities, which include 20 Chinese cities and 20 non-Chinese cities.

This is just one of the initiatives in which we are participating towards promoting Malta in China. On the 10th of August, the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued its latest Notice on Resuming Travel Agencies’ Operation of Outbound Group Tours for Chinese Citizens, and Malta was included in this third-batch outbound group tour list. Given the remarkable history and touristic attractions for which Malta is famous, it is our hope that Chinese holidaymakers will grasp this opportunity to travel to Malta.

As apparent in increasingly alarming manifestations of climate change and extreme weather events, the progress towards achieving the 17 SDGs of the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has encountered obstacles, so underscoring the imperative nature of multilateral cooperation in areas of shared concern. The difficulties engendered by the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by the many and complex ramifications of wars currently raging in several regions, have further derailed the efforts of many countries towards achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The SDG Summit held last month in New York marked the halfway point of the 2030 Agenda and, as UN Secretary-General António Guterres remarked that the Summit “must be a moment of unity to provide a renewed impetus and accelerated actions for reaching the SDGs.” The Summit emphasized the long way still to go to achieve the 2030 Agenda by the targeted date.

Bilaterally, as a member of the European Union, and as an elected non-permanent member of the UN Security Council, Malta will continue to work with China towards the achievement of world peace and the SDGs. China’s contribution to achieving the Millennium Development Goals was immense, and Malta sees great opportunity in the China-proposed initiatives that are designed to boost global economic growth and facilitate the economic performance of developing countries, while enhancing the global safeguards for a sustainable environment. It is hoped that China’s support of multilateralism and world peace will once again be manifested in strong support towards achievement of the 2030 Agenda.