UN General Assembly
1985

Malta's relations with Italy are largely a function of the geographical proximity of our two countries and our long historical and cultural association. While Italy was one of the first countries to recognize and express support for Malta's status of neutrality, there came a time when we considered that these formal expressions of support were not finding application in practice. A huge and mounting trade imbalance between us and Italy, to our disadvantage, could not, if unredressed, form the basis of a mutually satisfying partnership. A new basis for agreement has now been reached. Italy has as a first step taken a commitment to find ways of offering us assistance in our infrastructural development, mainly in our water supply system and our road network, and this should help in re-establishing the close ties of co-operation our two countries previously enjoyed.