UN General Assembly
1982

assessment. The Socialist Government which came to power in 1971 after 13 years in opposition was firmly committed to a policy aimed at the elimination of all foreign military bases on the island. The phased and bloodless withdrawal of the forces of Britain and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization from the island commenced in 1972 and was completed by March 1979. My party was returned to power in 1976 it was pledged to entrench the process of the elimination of all foreign military presence in Malta by the assumption for the island of a status of neutrality, based strictly on the principles of non-alignment. We started discussions with our Mediterranean neighbours on the status we were to adopt after 1979. By 1979 those discussions were already bearing fruit. We found early encouragement and support both from our southern neighbours, in particular the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya and Algeria, and from our northern neighbours, including Italy and France. In the unfolding of events, our choice of a neutral status received broad recognition from Mediterranean and