Integrating social and family policy for the 90's - opening address [by L. Galea]

Abstract

I wish to welcome you, in the first instance, to Malta, a place which the distinguished British historian of architecture, Professor Quentin Hughes, has called "a different place, a place which must be known to be understood and understood to be enjoyed". I cannot help adding, in the second instance, that I am doing so in the year which happens to be the 25th anniversary of Malta's birth as a sovereign state. But not its birth as a nation; for Malta had undoubtedly been a nation for thousands of years before the attainment of political independence in 1964. I say this because I think it may have some relevance to the general theme of the conference which I am welcoming you to, in Malta and in 1989. The very late birth of our nation as a sovereign state can be seen as one sign of the typically Mediterranean character of our island, despite its 'difference' in other respects.