 Hefyd, everybody. You're all very welcome to the Institute. Yn mynd i'r ffasau a'r newf ffaith, as well. My name is Rory Quinn. I'm the chairperson of the Institute. We're delighted to welcome you back here to your second visit, with an elevator titled as the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The Institute is very welcome to have you. We are partners in the European Union. We'll be very interested to hear what you have to say. That's it. Time to remind you to turn off your... Sorry for that. It's a good way to do it. So without further ado, I'd like to invite you to address the audience and we'll have a question and answer session after that. So thank you very much. Good morning to all of you. I have heard it in speech but I prefer to, instead of reading it, go through it and to give ample time to your remarks, and we'll have time for that. As you heard from the introduction, this is my second time here. Just to make sure. Oh, okay. I was the director. It's my second time here. The first time I was here in my capacity as Minister for Home Affairs and National Security and at that time I tried to address, at least, our experience in terms of my country when it comes to migration. It seems to me that almost nothing changed or things got worse at times, but migration maybe will speak about it if there are questions or even during my speech. I would like to begin by making reference to the European Commission's white paper on the future of Europe. This was in 2017 where the scope of this paper was to set out possible parts for the future of the continent. And I quote from this white paper. While the world has never been smaller or better connected than the present day, the return of isolanism has caused doubts over the future of international trade and multilateralism. When I read this quote, it seems that to complicate matters to the current global and regional challenges, now we have in recent years and months also put doubts on whether multilateralism works or not. And I think that this is one of the challenges that we have to face when it comes to how we deal with global issues. One can say that without any doubt, multilateral cooperation is facing a crisis and Brexit is just another setback in this regard and working together we are one of the biggest member states that is departing the European Union. Of course, more to fully respect the democratic decision taken by the United Kingdom, although of course we still find it hard to come to terms with the fact that the United Kingdom will leave the European Union. We go back centuries with the United Kingdom. We were colonised by the United Kingdom. We know the feeling. Yes. Then we became partners in the European Union, members of the commonwealth as well, and now this big country is leaving the European Union. Of course now we are experiencing that it's not easy for any country to leave the European Union. We have to deal with all the possibilities at the moment and there is uncertainty of what's going to happen. Of course we do sympathise with and understand also the Irish concerns. Most notably when it comes to the border issues and this afternoon as soon as we leave from here I will be visiting the border crossing. Now, pardon me if I don't pronounce it correctly. Archonel? No, you don't recognise that. So it's definitely... It's A-R-D-G-O-N-E-L. It's on, excuse me minister, it's on the Maunahan border. Okay, you see? So that will give me the opportunity about from learning how to pronounce it. It gives me the opportunity to understand better what is at stake when we talk about the border issue. It's the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland. So I feel much more at home. Yes. Of course Ireland and Malta we do have a longstanding strong relationship with the United Kingdom irrespective of whether we were colonised by them. And it's our wish to continue to nurture this relationship that goes back in history and of course it's also in the interest of our respective peoples to do so. As the United Kingdom usually say they are leaving the EU but not Europe which means that still we have to work together. And it's within the scope of multilateralism as well if we believe that multilateralism is the way forward to solve or tackle in the best possible way the challenges that we have. So I would like to speak a bit about multilateralism. Of course nothing is perfect in life if you don't have a better solution then work together rather than work in isolation. And definitely when we listen today or hear today issues regarding trade wars which are becoming even bigger in these days there are talks again with the two most big economies the United States and China what will happen in those talks. The rise of populism in Europe but not only and also the erosion of the international rules-based approach when it comes to a number of challenges. In recent times we are also experiencing certain difficulties when it comes to the transatlantic relationship which today is being challenged at the bilateral but also at the multilateral level. In these last few days I had testified personally to speeches that came from eminent persons in the United States they spoke about the European Union what we feel that should be the way forward on a number of issues including JCPOA, including Iran and other challenges that we have. Of course we do share the common values at least we have to start from somewhere to find the common ground especially respect for democracy, human rights, rule of law but also our relationship has developed and grown when it comes also to security and prosperity. We need to fight terrorism for example together. Terrorism knows no border and likewise should be our action when it comes to terrorism. So there is a long list so to speak of issues that we have to work together and there is exponential cooperation that can be pursued by both sides but we have to continue with the dialogue and not up to certain extent say certain words that might be interpreted in a different way. So maybe we arrived at a time where the concept of multilateralism needs to be renewed if we want to together accomplish something when it comes to the challenges that we have. Now we are both small member states in the European Union and beyond of course we are even micro states when it comes to our country but we have what we call a Mediterranean vocation. Notwithstanding Brexit the EU is still a clear example of how countries can work together when it comes to the economy when it comes to political partnership especially towards peace and also achieving a high degree of cooperation and success in a multitude of fields. Definitely Ireland's contribution to the European Union is truly commendable it has made a success out of membership and it was also a model for us when we were discussing and trying to find a model for ourselves back then before 2004 and most of the time Ireland was mentioned as a model also for us as a future member state and then when we became a member state. This model also applies to my country. So if when it comes to countries size did matter it's more as the smallest EU member state would and should not have much influence on matters pertaining to for example the EU foreign policy but this line of thinking however should consider two important factors regional influence but also added value and I think these two aspects help us to be let's say relevant irrespective of the size of our countries. For almost now 15 years EU membership employed a strategy with highly focused goals and political initiatives which represent a regional common interest. This means that this allows to maximize our influence when it comes to us as a country while acting in concert in our respective niches. So this in a nutshell is our experience when it comes to our role and whether we are effective or not or at least relevant or not within a union of 28 till today. As you know what has strategically located in the centre of the Mediterranean but it's also geographically and historically close to North Africa. When we go to Tunisia for example we fly north so Tunisia is further north is closer to Europe than we are actually. We never shied away from promoting the interests of the Mediterranean region in the European context and while sharing with our European partners the lessons learned from our Euro Mediterranean reality. I remember and we repeat every now and then the concept that there is no peace and security in Europe unless there is peace and security in the Mediterranean. This was something that one of our previous prime ministers had insisted in the Helsinki declaration in mid 70s. It's still relevant today because some countries that are maybe not close enough to the Mediterranean when it comes to geography they are not even close in this mentality that when we look at the Mediterranean we see that there are a lot of issues and challenges that we have to deal with. North Africa as a whole maybe we can mention Libya in particular at the moment. The migration issue Middle East which is two hours away from us if we fly from Tel Aviv for example directly to Maltes just two hours. It takes us longer to come to Brussels rather than to go to Tel Aviv. Syria which has become a regional issue now not just Syria itself involved five, six other countries in the region Yemen as well so all these are part or very close to the Mediterranean and definitely directly or indirectly have an impact on member states. So we have these challenges but do we only focus on the challenges or we can exploit also and see if there are opportunities and I feel that there are opportunities as well of course we need to promote stability peace and secure our borders that's important we need to have that in place because then if we don't have this in place we will not have economic prosperity so to say something about our southern neighbourhood this region is facing serious challenges ranging from conflict to terrorism, to extremism radicalisation, social inequity and the lack of economic growth this is the scenario in the southern neighbourhood of the European Union so Europe's external policy is aimed at countering these threats to have peace as much as possible in the region so it is important to forge a stronger link between the European neighbourhood policy and the Union for the Mediterranean and in this framework we have from a political perspective at least we have to maintain the European neighbourhood instrument separate and adequately financed in the next multi-annual financial framework and that would be in the EU strategic interest so when we invest money when we allocate money in the MFF for the southern neighbourhood we are not just allocating money for other countries but we are also investing in our own interests I mentioned Libya I will not go into the detail at least of how important is that Libya becomes a stable country in a nutshell we do follow and support what the UN secretary representative Gaston Salame is doing I think he is doing an excellent job when it comes to dealing with all the factions with all the main leaders in Libya is certainly a task definitely one key element is security because one day you might say well things look good today the following day something else happens so the issue of security is crucial if we want to have a political process which have to be Libyan-owned and Libyan-led with the support of the international community and the Libyans need this support but they first and foremost they need to get together and be convinced themselves first and foremost that they need to go through this process they have to agree also on the rules of the game when it comes to elections it's useless not agreeing on the rules of the game when it comes to election because otherwise will have problem when the results are published so they need to also agree on that and it's not easy it's not easy to enact the legislation and the constitution amendments and of course it's not easy because they know that not everyone can win and who today has some kind of authority or leadership that person might lose that kind of authority and leadership after the election so the situation is quite challenging but we need not to lose hope at least when it comes to the Middle East peace process at the time being one can easily say that we have no process going on now with the elections in Israel of course we have to await the results of the election in April our position when it comes to the Middle East both Ireland and we believe in a two state solution of course dialogue has to prevail even when it comes to difficult questions such as the capital city and that's why we think that with the declaration that Jerusalem is the capital city of one state of Israel that's something that did not help in the process, not at all at least it didn't help and we think that dialogue should be should prevail and also that all electors are involved today the Palestinians feel that the US on the wrong cannot be trusted that's what they say publicly and I feel that the opinion is in its interest to take a more visible role to be around the table of discussion and to have an active role when it comes to the Middle East because after all Middle East it's in our neighborhood and it's in our interest to secure security there usually when we have instability then the economy we cannot pretend that it goes well but then there is what I call the third element which is the humanitarian aspect and people are suffering from these situations, not only in the Middle East but also where we have conflicts so first we started political difficulties, stability then of course the economy cannot blossom is the humanitarian crisis I mean to give another example where it's happening now it's turned to be a humanitarian crisis with difficulties to send also humanitarian aid in this country and when it comes to the Middle East we know that UNRWA had received less funds which means that education, social help and other needs are lacking which means that we are not investing in the future because if we don't provide education for the children what can we expect that they do in the future if there is a future for them but we are not investing either in security because if they are not in the classroom what are they are going to do and if they know that someone is prohibiting from these funds to arrive to them for their for the daily basic services for which they have a right then we end up seeing the news and violence will again start so this is what I think is happening there and definitely we need to have a process we were hopeful that Bushner will come with the so-called deal of the century we were a bit let down last week when he was in Poland he didn't say anything because he said well maybe rightly so now that there is an election coming in Israel and we talked about that after the election but we are awaiting this for quite some time before even the elections were announced so let's even hear this is a long standing issue 70 years have passed at times we became immune when we listen to the news about what's happening there I visited the region twice and you see the disparity between one country and the other when it comes to Syria definitely we condemn in the strongest possible terms the use of chemical weapons even here we are talking about the humanitarian crisis when we have thousands of thousands of refugees that left Syria not because they wanted but because they were forced to do so and then one things leads to the other because then you have refugees leaving their country of origin and they are going in other countries which have to deal with huge amount of of persons both in Europe but not only in Europe even in Lebanon for example Jordan they are hosting millions and they are spending millions of euros for the daily needs but also in Europe we had to deal with the situation of refugees and migrants of course Syria it's a bit of another conflict that now we are approaching the 10th year and at times we have a chicken egg situation when it comes for example the reconstruction of Syria in Europe we are saying well first the regime will go and then we consider to help with reconstruction but are we sure that the regime will go and if there is no reconstruction going on how do we expect that refugees will return to their own country because they will not have hope where to go so I think this is what I am referring to as a chicken or egg situation which comes first the political process and the hope that there will be a change in the regime in the current leadership or reconstruction just to mention one issue there are also a number of actors there and interests and I think that maybe we lost an opportunity some years ago to meet around the table to at least have some common goals when it comes to Syria and this was not done in the past let me say something about Africa the way we as Europeans look at the African continent is that we are a member of Africa mainly because we have an issue with migration but we need to build a partnership with the African continent with the African countries they need to feel that we are partners and they need to feel that we are interested in the development and in the further development of this great continent I think in our mentality at least speaking from behalf of a number of Maltese is that when we are a member of Africa or a country in Africa the first thing that comes to mind is poverty which is a reality but we have to admit that poverty is a reality also in Europe we need to mention that maybe it's a different kind of poverty but still but we have to say that there are good things also going on in a number of African countries there are also huge opportunities for investment there is also investment happening in a number of countries African countries that is giving its fruit and providing work for the local population so it's not just poverty it's not just migration in a nutshell I feel that as Europeans we need to have a new narrative for the African continent and I have to admit that I was pleased when Jean-Flo Thune made the speech of the Union the State of the Union speech and he mentioned this that we as Europeans need to have a new narrative when it comes to Africa to be seen as partners as equals and not just that we need point fingers you do this, you do that and that's that's not good for the African leaders of course so we need to build this relationship this partnership with the African continent and grab the opportunities that exist also for businesses in Europe we from our end we are trying to enhance the relationship with Africa not only with the North Africa where we have Libya, Tunisia Morocco, Algeria, Egypt that's more or less a given since the proximity geographically proximity of these countries but also sub-Saharan countries and we decided to open our first embassy sub-Saharan embassy which is in Ghana basically trying to cater for that part of the African continent definitely one embassy is not enough but limited resources when it comes to human resources mainly and then financial resources but little by little we are looking at the African continent not only the North part but also in the very heart of Africa I was pleased when I had the opportunity to visit Ghana in July of 2017 a company with her excellency the president that we had a trade delegation with us and I was pleased that the local business community the multi's local business community we had for us a substantial number more than 20 actually which for us is let's say a good number when it comes to a region that we do not have direct connectivity that it's a new region for us it's a new country for us so I really admire the fact that these companies wished to explore and I know that they continue to go there on their own and there are good prospects for them to make some some good deals with in Ghana likewise we have Ethiopia which is becoming much bigger in importance there is also the seat of the African Union there so we are we also appointed an ambassador specifically for Ethiopia and the African Union while before we used to cover that from Egypt it's not a resident ambassador but still at least this ambassador can be focused I'm saying this because I think as Europeans now we need to have more focus on the African continent from a different perspective and we are trying to do something at least that we can afford to do when it comes to the African continent we should speak of trade and not aid yes there are projects going on from NGOs even the European Union is the major donor when it comes to development but still I think that we need to build the partnership not on giving money but helping these countries to to develop and we need to invest there then we need to invest quickly in the sense that we are competing with other countries we are not on our own there the Africans want to work with Europe want to work with the European Union but of course we have to be more let's say less bureaucratic because jokingly maybe they say well if we ask the Chinese the Russians the Turks maybe to come and do a project they will come maybe they will start if we ask the same to the European Union you will see a number of bureaucrats coming you have to build this and we know that we have the procurement regulations which of course we are bound to follow but I think we need to from the administrative point of view be more effective otherwise we will lose when it comes to competition from other countries as well now we are talking about the post-couture agreement and how that will be negotiated and in these negotiations what I feel is that we have to listen carefully to what Africa is saying it's not just us but it's them as well so we need to listen carefully to that finally I would like to mention the United Nations because the United Nations is seen to be as the multilateral fora par excellence and I know that Ireland is seeking to be one of the permanent seats at the United Nations Security Council we are doing the same soon after Ireland at least that's our hope we are bidding for one of the permanent seats and I think that we bring a lot and we will bring a lot to the Security Council from our perspective how we see things and other countries, the big countries especially can look at us as partners and not as a threat maybe there are sometimes there are suspicious that a big country might propose something because there is something behind in our case you get what you see and I think that we are really we can play a role in that as well so we share common goals and common aspirations based on our European legacy of dialogue, engagement and values this is something common to Ireland and to my country and I think that we are very much like minded as well even if you look at our constitution we have neutrality in our constitution we are not NATO members and these are things that brings us even closer together friendship that exists between the respective countries and hopefully this will continue in the future also for the mutual benefit of our people I stop here Thank you very much indeed