Malta's foreign policy in the 70s : Mintoff's opening to the East

Abstract

On the successful completion of independence negotiations in September 1964, Malta and Britain signed a Defence and Financial Agreement, designed to facilitate economic development within the security of a British and NATO presence and which enabled 'the close connections between [Britain and Malta] to be maintained.' The Defence and Financial Agreement which was negotiated by Borg Olivier and the British Commonwealth Secretary, Duncan Sandys, stated that Britain would provide a sum of £51 million over a ten-year period, 75 percent of which was to be in the form of a grant and 25 percent a loan at current UK interest rates. These financial arrangements were to last for a five-year period and then subject to further review in 1969. A parallel defence agreement was also signed which gave Britain a considerable control over key installations and the use of property and land for military purposes. Britain also agreed to train and assist generally with the development of Malta's own small defence forces. For the first time in history, Malta started looking forward to solving her own internal and external problems. However many questions about Malta's actual abilities to doing so, started to be raised.