Between the 16 and 17 June 2022, Mr Christopher
Cutajar, Permanent Secretary at the Ministry for Foreign and European Affairs
and Trade participated in the second edition of the Prespa Forum Dialogue that
was held in Ohrid, North Macedonia.
Held
under the auspices of the President of North Macedonia, H.E. Stevo Pendarovski,
this year’s edition of the PFD was aptly titled: “Shaping Western Balkans
Future in the contemporary European Security Architecture”. With the backdrop of the war in Ukraine and
the evolving European security architecture, the PFD presented an opportunity
for concrete exchanges between the participants.
The Permanent Secretary addressed one of the
sessions of the forum, entitled “Building resilient European Security together”
where he emphasized the importance of the security dimension in the
Mediterranean. While the war in Ukraine
has given a new perspective to the aspirations of the Western Balkan countries,
the Mediterranean dimension cannot be forgotten. The Mediterranean has been for too long left
in the periphery.
Malta shall continue
to promote proactive policies and initiatives that are needed to protect
security, stability and prosperity in the Mediterranean. The promotion of dialogue between all
countries in the Mediterranean is of utmost importance. The Permanent Secretary also reiterated
Malta’s unequivocal support to a merit-based approach prospect of full EU
membership of the Western Balkans.
In the margins of the Forum, the Permanent
Secretary also had the opportunity to hold a bilateral meeting with the Secretary
General of the Regional Cooperation Council Ms Majlinda Bregu whereby the two
exchanged views on possible avenues of cooperation between Malta and the Regional
Cooperation Council. Furthermore, Mr
Cutajar also held a fruitful bilateral meeting with H.E. Ms Fatmire Isaki,
Deputy Foreign Minister of North Macedonia during which they spoke on matters
of mutual interest inter-alia, the enhancement of the bilateral relations
between the two countries, North Macedonia’s EU aspirations and the war in
Ukraine.