Jānis Zelmenis, attorney-at-law and Honorary Consul of Malta, participated in a meeting of Malta Honorary consuls, which was held on July 28-30 to discuss the ways of increasing the impact of Malta on the international scene. The meeting, which is traditionally held once in two years, was attended by 100 honorary consuls of Malta from all over the world. The topic of this year’s meeting was enhancing international and economic profile of Malta.

When opening the meeting, the Foreign Minister of Malta, George Vella, emphasised the significant role of the honorary consuls in the country’s foreign policy. “The goal of the meeting is to strengthen economic and cultural interests of Malta in foreign countries. The agenda of the meeting has been drawn up so as to further our government’s efforts aimed at developing economic diplomacy. You are a part of the gold vein connecting Malta and Gozo with any other part of the world. With the help of your offices and services we, a small country, can reach countries and cities worldwide. Creating a fully-fledged diplomatic network is crucial to us from the aspect of both finance and human resources,” G.Vella said.

A small country like Malta virtually cannot afford permanent embassies, therefore it has established a worldwide network of Honorary consuls who ensure an efficient economic and consular representation of the country without remuneration,” emphasised Jānis Zelmenis, Malta’s Honorary Consul in Latvia.

At the meeting, the Honorary consuls offered several presentations about financial and economic development of Malta and its major cultural events. To the participants of the event also were given the opportunity to exchange views in eight panels led by high ranking officials of Malta. The panels were dedicated to the economic development of Malta, air and the sea transport, education and development of cinema industry.