{"database": "openregs", "table": "congressional_record", "rows": [["CREC-1994-12-20-pt1-PgE3", "1994-12-20", 103, 2, null, null, "COMMENTS ON THE NATION OF MALTA", "HOUSE", "EXTENSIONS", "FRONTMATTER", "E", "E", "[{\"name\": \"Earl F. Hilliard\", \"role\": \"speaking\"}]", null, "140 Cong. Rec. E", "Congressional Record, Volume 140 Issue 150 (Tuesday, December 20, 1994)\n\n[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 150 (Tuesday, December 20, 1994)]\n[Extensions of Remarks]\n[Page E]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]\n\n[Congressional Record: December 20, 1994]\nFrom the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]\n\n                    COMMENTS ON THE NATION OF MALTA\n\n                                 ______\n\n                         HON. EARL F. HILLIARD\n\n                               of alabama\n\n                    in the house of representatives\n\n                       Tuesday, December 20, 1994\n\n  Mr. HILLIARD. Mr. Speaker, it is inherent in Washington's role as the\nCapital of the free world for heads of state to come here for\nconsultations and discussions with the leaders of the United States,\nand unfortunately many of their visits go unnoticed. However, one such\nvisit which did not go unnoticed was a tour by the Prime Minister of\nMalta, the Honorable Fenech-Adami.\n  Prime Minister Fenech-Adami was the leader of a delegation which\nincluded his deputy prime minister/minister of foreign affairs, the\nhonorable Guido de Marco. The delegation from Malta met with President\nClinton, the Secretary of State, the National Security Advisor, the\nchairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, as well as the\nchairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.\n  It is wonderful for the United States to host a delegation of leaders\nfrom another nation who exemplify the characteristics of honor and\nintegrity. In an age when many of the nations of the world are\nentangled in blood feuds and ethnic genocide, it is refreshing to know\nthat there are still nations, like Malta, who have able and fair-minded\nleaders.\n  A recent article in the Washington Times by Andrew Borowiec,\nsuccinctly described the positive changes which the strategic island of\nMalta has undergone since the 1987 election of Dr. Fenech-Adami. I\nhereby submit the aforementioned Washington Times article for inclusion\nin the Congressional Record.\n\n              [From the Washington Times, Sept. 25, 1994]\n\n        Malta's Prime Minister Touts Island as New Business Base\n\n                          (By Andrew Borowiec)\n\n       Seven years of conservative rule have turned Malta into a\n     prosperous island striving to become a major center of\n     business activity in the western Mediterranean, its prime\n     minister said yesterday.\n       Pointless prestige projects have been discarded,\n     infrastructure has been developed, and Malta is anxious to\n     join the European Union, Edward Fenech-Adami told editors and\n     reporters of The Washington Times.\n       Because of structural problems in the EU, Malta's\n     membership cannot be considered until 1996, ``although\n     legally we are entitled to it now,'' he said.\n       South of Sicily and a short distance from Tunisia, the\n     ``Island of Honey and Roses'' remains painfully aware of the\n     threat of Islamic fundamentalism battering Algeria.\n       Mr. Fenech-Adami described the Islamic movement as a\n     ``cauldron that has to be watched'' and said the solution is\n     ``not to suppress it now and then, but eliminate it.''\n       With a population of 370,000 and an area of 122 square\n     miles, barely twice that of the District of Columbia, Malta\n     is a bastion of Roman Catholicism. It has three churches per\n     square mile.\n       The overwhelming influence of the church was challenged\n     somewhat by the socialists who were voted out of power in\n     1987.\n       Overcoming the opposition of labor unions, the government\n     this week drafted a major plan to revamp the huge shipyards\n     it inherited from Britain upon independence in 1964.\n       Mr. Fenech-Adami described the agreement as a\n     ``milestone,'' saying Malta no longer will build ships, but\n     will develop the yards into joint ventures making containers\n     and cranes.\n       Trying to keep the shipyards working ``was a desperate act\n     on the part of the socialist government,'' he said. When the\n     socialists flirted with Libya before the rise to power of Mr.\n     Fenech-Adami's Nationalist Party, Libyan gunboats were\n     repaired in the shipyards.\n       Although under his leadership Malta has distanced itself\n     from Libya, Mr. Fenech-Adami said a ``good working\n     relationship'' continues and ``the proximity of Libya cannot\n     be ignored.''\n       Mr. Fenech-Adami said Malta has registered constant\n     economic growth in recent years, including 8.1 percent last\n     year. Unemployment is 4 percent on an island whose men in the\n     past frequently left in search of work.\n       The inflation rate has been reduced to 4 percent, he said.\n     ``We now think of Malta as a hub, promoting it as a center of\n     international trade and business activity.''\n       Discussing the plans for Malta's EU membership, Mr. Fenech-\n     Adami said: ``The prospects are good. Malta has gained a lot\n     of credibility. Our low unemployment--and I call it full\n     employment--is due to the high degree of confidence.''\n\n                          ____________________"]], "columns": ["granule_id", "date", "congress", "session", "volume", "issue", "title", "chamber", "granule_class", "sub_granule_class", "page_start", "page_end", "speakers", "bills", "citation", "full_text"], "primary_keys": ["granule_id"], "primary_key_values": ["CREC-1994-12-20-pt1-PgE3"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 17.630024114623666, "source": "Federal Register API & Regulations.gov API", "source_url": "https://www.federalregister.gov/developers/api/v1", "license": "Public Domain (U.S. Government data)", "license_url": "https://www.regulations.gov/faq"}