Malta and the United Kingdom with a bilateral cooperation agreement

On Friday, Malta and the UK signed a cooperation pact spanning numerous industries and vowed to keep advancing their "great centuries-old ties." 

Foreign policy, security, defence, public administration, the rule of law, trade, investment, research and innovation, energy, climate change, sustainability, education, health, and culture are all areas in which the two nations will work together. 

The agreement marked the conclusion of a formal visit by the UK's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Commonwealth, and Development, James Cleverly.

Following bilateral discussions, Cleverly and Foreign Minister Ian Borg signed the agreement at the Museum of Archaeology in Valletta.

According to Borg, the agreement is the result of work done over the past few months and years by numerous diplomats to strengthen bilateral ties in a number of important strategic areas. 

At a news conference, Borg described how this "historic accord" was evidence of the close ties between the two nations that already existed and would only get stronger. 

Since Malta assumed its place as a non-permanent member of the UNSC, he said multilateral cooperation with the UK as a permanent member of the UN Security Council should be reinforced.

“During these testing times for the international community, with the unprovoked war initiated by the Russian Federation at the heart of Europe, Malta aspires to work closely with like-minded partners such as the UK to serve on such an important forum like the Security Council to meaningfully contribute and ensure the maintenance of international peace and security,” he said.

He spoke about how another area of multilateral cooperation between Malta and UK is the Commonwealth. As a small island state, Malta always believed that one of the principal roles of the Commonwealth should be its continuous support to be a voice for small island states, he said.

Cleverly said the United Kingdom wanted to continue strengthening the relationship with Malta and his visit was a significant example of this. He said that the agreement was just the beginning of more work between the two countries. He looked forward to working with Malta on issues such as peace and security, especially since the country had always been an agent of peace.