Malta is set to take over the Presidency of the European Council in January for the first time since joining the EU in 2004. Parliament’s Conference of Presidents, which is composed of Parliament President Martin Schulz and the political group leaders, visited the island on Thursday 8 December to find out how the country was preparing for it. 

Led by Schulz, the group leaders started their day by visiting Maltese President Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, who singled out poverty and unemployment as the key challenges facing the EU.

The delegation then had a meeting with Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech. In the press conference afterwards Muscat said: “We are here to act as honest brokers both in Council and with the other institutions. Europe must stand up to be counted, not by stamping its feet, but by standing by its principles.”

Schulz said he was impressed with how Malta was preparing for the presidency. “The expectations are high, but so was the satisfaction of the group leaders on what they heard from you. Small countries can take on the challenge with strong commitment. My experience is that smaller countries are always successful”.

The delegation also visited the Maltese parliament where they met the members.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Board of Directors of the Civitan International (www.civitan.org) appointed Professor Gaetano Armao as Secretary General for Malta.

Armao, who was already honorary member of the Civitan International in our country, contributed to the development of this organization in southern Europe and now he will take care of building the Maltese District.

Civitan International, based in Birmingham, Alabama, is an international organization of civil society clubs founded in 1917. The organization aspires to “build good citizens”, providing a volunteering organization based on clubs that satisfy individual and collective needs, with particular attention to assistance for people with “development disabilities”.

4 USA Presidents, among which Roosevelt and John Fitzgerald Kennedy, were members of the Civitan International, as well as many important characters of the USA history, such as Thomas Edison and Cornelius Vanderbilt.

Gaetano Armao, born in Palermo in 1962, is a lawyer, Professor at the University of Palermo, Researcher at the London School of Economics and at the Harward Law School (Boston). He held several posts in the government of the Sicilian region, among which Assessor for culture and economy, showing great commitment in the defense of autonomies and in the friendship activities between Sicily and the Anglo-Saxon world, with emphasis on the relations between Malta and the USA.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

From 19 November to 9 December 2016 the Malta International Organ Fesival was held in Malta. It is a Maltese festival during which international musicians perform great music composed or adapted for the king of instrument: the organ. There were 3 concerts with Italy as main character, thanks to the collaboration of the Italian Institute of Culture of Valletta. Italy was also given the closing of the festival, with the concert held in the Anglican pro-cathedral of St. Paul in Valletta.

During the concert of the Valletta Chamber Orchestra, directed by Elena Sartori, music by Bach, Albinoni, Handel and Corelli were played. Two more Italian concerts were held before the closing concert: Saturday 26 November, at the Balzan Annunciation Church, the musician Marco d’Avola played the organ with soprano Silvia Di Falco and baritone Joseph Lia in the “Ave Maria” concert, with plays of Gounod, Schubert, D’Avola, Mascagni, Verdi, Mozart. Friday 2 December, then, the composer Diego Cannizzaro played with the organ works of Bach, Rinck, Mendelssohn, Bossi e Yon at the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Balluta. Great participation in terms of public, who appreciated the performance of the musicians.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Israeli Minister of national infrastructure, energy and water resources, Yuval Steinitz, met yesterday in Jerusalem the Greek Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism Giorgos Stathakis and the Cypriot Minister of Energy, Commerce, Industry and Tourism, Georgios Lakkotrypis, in order to promote a closer cooperation with Europe in the Energy sector and to meet, as soon as possible, the European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action, Miguel Arais Canete. The news is released by the economic newspaper Globes.

Objective of the meeting was the decision to promote the construction of a pipeline to link Israel to Cyprus and Greece, and then to Italy and Bulgaria (the EU has already prepared a feasibility study on this project) in order to export natural gas and make Europe less dependent from Russia, from an energy point of view.

The costs are estimated to be around USD 5.7 billion and the price should be USD 7-9 per BTU in order for the project to be economically advantageous. Sources in the energy sector affirm, however, that the real cost of the project will be over USD 2 billion more than estimated and that a USD 7-9 price would not be economically acceptable on a market in which Russia sells 175 billion cubic metres of gas (accounting for 43% of the total gas consumed in Europe) for a price of USD 4.40 per BTU.

The same day, the European Commissioner for Energy said that the 124 agreements currently in place for gas supplies will be united in a single instrument, again with the objective of reducing the dependency of Europe towards Russia.

The pipeline can become a more profitable business in the case new deposits will be found, while Minister Steinitz underlined the political and strategic aspect for the balance between countries in the region.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

At the end of the 2-day meeting of NATO Ministers of Foreign Affairs, in Brussels, the Head of Slovenian Diplomacy Karl Erjavec declared the need for more funds to be allocated for security in the future. This applies also to Slovenia, whose funds for security will have to increase. Erjavec mentioned the risk of another migratory flow on the Balkan route and the risk of terrorism. On the occasion, a meeting of the Ministers of the countries that will establish a battalion in Latvia, to be led by Canada, to consolidate the position of the Alliance in Eastern Europe, was held. It is foreseen that Spanish, Italian, Polish, Albanian and Slovenian soldiers will be part of it, together with Latvians and Canadians.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Albanians will be voting for the political elections on 18 June 2017. The date was set by the Head of State Bujar Nishani. Currently, Albania is governed by the centre-left majority of Prime Minister Edi Rama, who in June 2013 obtained a great victory, defeating the centre-right of the then Prime Minister Sali Berisha, at his second mandate. Immediately after that, Berisha decided to resign, leaving his place to his heir apparent Lulzim Basha.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

On 3 December in Montenegro the call for the purchase of medicines was blocked due to a submission of an irregularity report. It is to be recalled that on 7 November 2016 Montefarm, public authority that provides national pharmacies with medical and health products, published three calls for tenders for the purchase of these products, for a total value of slightly more than EUR 31 million, distributed as follows: EUR 1.64 million for 195 types of medical products, EUR 19.7 million for 331 types of ampoule products and EUR 10.66 million for 486 types of medicines for oral administration.  

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Moroccan company Platinum Power, whose main shareholder is the American Investment Fund Brookstone Partners, will launch a project for the construction of 3 private hydroelectric stations  in Morocco, in the Beni Mellal region, 200km north-east from Marrakech. It is an unprecedented project in the country, because so far all hydroelectric stations have been managed by the national authority ONEE. An amendment to the law on renewable energy, approved in 2015, allows private initiatives in the production of energy from renewable resources, in this case water. This regulation allowed the private project of Platinum Power to show its public utility. The project was published on the Moroccan Government gazette on 24 October. Platinum Power foresees a MAD 2.8 billion (over EUR 260 million) investment for the construction of three small hydroelectric stations: Boutferda (18 MW), Tillouguit Amont (8 MW) e Tillouguit Aval (30 MW), which will benefit from the water coming from the Atlas. The estimated annual production is 250 GWH. This project received an agreement for a waiver on its urban impact by the Regional Commission for Investments (CRI) of the Beni Mellal-Khenrifa Wilaya. It should create 480 jobs during the construction, and 80 additional jobs after the beginning of operations, date that is so far unknown. Platinum Power, specialized in the development, funding, construction and management of projects for energy production from renewables, operates also in Ivory Coast and Cameroon, and has a network that produces almost 2,500 MW in the hydroelectric, wind and solar energy secotors. Other Platinum Power shareholders are, in addition to Brookstone Partners, the German development bank KfW, the European Investment Bank, the French Agency for Development and Morocco (through the fund for the growth of SMEs). 

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Fadhel Abdelkefi, Minister of Development, Investments and International Cooperation, wrapped up the international conference on investments and economic and social development of Tunisia.

He explained that 4,500 people participated at the event, among which 1,500 were business partners coming from 70 countries and 40 delegations. Official commitments amount to 34 billion dinars (15 billion on agreements and 19 million in funding pledges).

The Minister underlined the agreements signed with France, which was represented by Prime Minister Manuel Valls, which foresees 3 billion dinars credit to be given over the next four years, as well as over 420 million dinars in funding agreements with preferential conditions, and a 25 million dinars donation, for which the discussions for the re-negotiation of the debt with France for investments in Tunisia was launched.  

He added that he had a meeting with the French Ambassador to Tunisia for the submission of projects to build hospitals and for regional education.

Saudia Arabia, on its side, signed a financing contract for 1.8 billion dinars through the Saudi Fund, with an additional financing mechanism at preferential rates (up to 25-30 years with an interest rate not above 2%, over and above a 7 year extra period granted).

For Germany, an agreement was signed with KFW in order to grant Tunisia a 260 million dinars loan, while the European Union gave a 500 million dinars donation.

The European Investment Bank signed with Tunisia a financing contract that amounts to 6.8 billion dinars on a time-span of 4 years, as well as a 600 million dinars loan with preferential conditions.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Business Monitor International (BMI) foresees a 2.2% growth of the real GDP of Lebanese economy for 2017, compared to the +1.7% forecasat for 2016. According to BMI, private consumption is the main engine of the Lebanese economy and will contribute with 2.9% of the growth rate for 2016, and with 3.4% for 2017.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews