Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/674824
3 maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 MAY 2016 News Malta in talks with foreign governments over inter- country adoptions MIRIAM DALLI THE Maltese government is in talks with at least 12 govern- ments over inter-country adop- tion agreements, Family Minister Michael Farrugia informed par- liament yesterday. Following up on questions raised by backbencher Anthony Agius Decelis to Foreign Affairs Minister George Vella, Farru- gia listed a number of countries which the government is in talks with over adoptions. Cambodia, the minister an- nounced, was set to reopen its inter-country adoptions follow- ing a four-year hiatus. The coun- try had pulled a halt to adoptions after it emerged that a number of Cambodian children had been lost in human trafficking. Cam- bodia has now requested a meet- ing with the Maltese government to pave the way for the reopening of adoptions. Farrugia denied suggestions by PN MP Beppe Fenech Adami that the number of adoptions has gone down substantially: "The numbers don't differ that much," he said. Malta is seeking adoptions from India and the Philippines while talks with Chile and Venezuela are at an advanced stage. Talks with Kosovo, Slovakia, Po- land and the Czech Republic are underway while the agreement with Albania is being reviewed. Following an agreement with Vietnam, the country is sending experts over to Malta for a follow- up. The foreign affairs minister also explained that adoptions from Russia were never halted. However, he admitted that there were times where Russia required further assurances after Russian children allegedly went missing in the US. Front urges Muscat to oppose Wied Ghomor ODZ development TIM DIACONO FRONT Harsien ODZ has urged Prime Minister Joseph Muscat to instruct the Planning Authority to reject an application to construct an old people's home in the Wied Gho- mor valley between Swieqi and San Gwann. A decision on the project, pro- posed in a disused quarry, is due tomorrow. "Muscat promised in his May Day speech that he will not allow any more buildings in outside develop- ment zones," Front spokesperson Monique Agius told a press confer- ence outside the Planning Author- ity's Floriana offices. "We call on him to stick to his word and instruct government representatives on the PA board to oppose the application." She said that the unused quarry should be rehabilitated for agricul- tural or public recreational pur- poses. San Gwann resident Sandie Galea noted that the valley is a heritage scheduled area and the last remain- ing green lung there. "The application itself goes against several PA policies," she said, refer- ring to local plans that stipulate that any new building must occupy "a minimal part of the site" and ME- PA's 2011 argument that only 5% of the site should be developed. The proposed home – which would include a restaurant and gym area – would occupy 8% of the quar- ry and rise two storeys above it. Swieqi mayor Noel Muscat hit out at the application as one that would "rape" the valley. "There aren't enough open spaces in Swieqi to cater for its current resi- dents as it is, and the local council wasn't consulted at all on this appli- cation," he said. "If this application is accepted, we fear that it will create a precedent for further development in the valley." Muscat added that the council would also steadfastly oppose a sep- arate application for the rehabilita- tion of an abandoned cow farm at Wied Ghomor into a tourist village. "It should either be rehabilitated back into a cow farm or returned to nature," he said. Flimkien Ghall Ambjent Ahjar president Astrid Vella argued that the proposal also goes against the Planning Authority's guidelines that old people's homes should be located close to town or village cen- tres. "If this proposal goes through, the elderly residents will be kept far away from society, from the church, and their relatives," she said. "Poli- cies for old people's homes are being dictated by developers." Activists, residents and local representatives made a last-ditch appeal against the development of an old people's home in Wied Ghomor