UN General Assembly
1985

For some years Malta's relations with Britain were soured by the fact that our ex-colonial ruler refused to assume what we considered to be its responsibilities in clearing our waters of bombs and wrecks left there as a result of its earlier presence in Malta. This year, however, a settlement of this outstanding problem was reached. In a five-month operation between April and August personnel from the British Royal Navy worked together with Maltese divers to remove over 40 major pieces of ordnance and various wrecks from the sea-bed in our Grand Harbor in order to permit the fullest use of the grain-loading and other infrastructural facilities we have recently built there. What was a limited problem in a broad sense but a serious obstacle in terms of our economic development has, therefore, now been satisfactorily resolved, thereby opening the way for us to resume mutually beneficial relations not only with Britain itself but also with other parts of the English-speaking world.