Malta and the Meetings that Changed History
‘I can see Russia from my house!’ Attributed to Alaskan Governor Sarah Palin, was actually the comedian Tina Fey mocking a Sarah Palin interview with the American broadcaster ABC, “You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska.” Later, Palin would explain Alaska’s strategic position as a state of the USA but with close proximity to Russia. Years on, Trump and Putin chose Alaska as a meeting place to discuss an end to the war in Ukraine.
But what does that have to do with Malta?
Locations for significant meetings of world leaders are chosen for many reasons – strategic positioning, neutrality, convenience and proximity among them. Malta has been the stage for some pivotal diplomatic encounters thanks to its location between Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. Its strategic position has drawn world leaders in times of war, peace and crisis, making the island a discreet but decisive player in twentieth and twenty-first-century history.
During the Second World War, having endured the bombardment by Germany and Italy, the battered island was used as the base by Eisenhower, Montgomery and their generals to plan and later prepare Operation Husky – the 1943 invasion of Sicily.
Two years later, in 1945, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill met in Malta prior to meeting with Stalin in Yalta. Their discussions in Valletta shaped the final preparations for the ending of the war in Europe and prepared them for the negotiations with Stalin for a post-war world. Stalin was originally to travel to Malta for the discussions but at the last minute remained in Moscow.
In peacetime, meetings in 1979 finalised the negotiations leading to Freedom Day, when British forces fully withdrew from Malta. This was a turning point for the island’s neutrality and non-alignment during the tensions of the Cold War. That same year, after Zambia, the original host of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), was unable to stage the meeting, Malta stepped in. With little time to prepare, leaders from across the Commonwealth convened to debate the future of Rhodesia’s push for independence (soon to become Zimbabwe), the global response to apartheid South Africa and the measures to stabilise the global economic situation after the oil shocks.
In December 1989, Malta was again at the centre of world attention with the Malta Summit between US president George H. W. Bush and Soviet leader Mikhael Gorbachev. Their meeting aboard warships, anchored off the coast of Marsaxlokk, debated the end of the Cold War. Symbolically they declared the end of the Cold War, paving the way for German reunification and the Soviet withdrawal from Eastern Europe which lead to the dawn of a new Europe.
In the new millennium, Malta was the scene of three major summits. In 2005, with Queen Elizabeth II in attendance, Malta hosted the CHOGM conference where leaders set significant directions on climate change and sovereign debt issues. A decade later in 2015, Malta welcomed African leaders to address the critical situation of the Mediterranean migration crisis, which reshaped Europe’s migration policies.
The most recent summit, in 2017, brought together EU heads of state to discuss the Brexit negotiations, relations with the USA under the new US President Trump, and the continuing challenge of mass migration across the Mediterranean.
In 2025, Malta once again offered itself as a mediator and location for peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.
Malta has repeatedly been called upon when the world needed neutral ground. Its diplomatic influence far outweighs its small size. Unlike Alaska, which looks across the water to a single rival, Malta stands at the centre of the Mediterranean – a true crossroads, with a view across all points of the compass. It has been, time and again, the place where great powers have gathered to debate, negotiate, and alter the course of history.
This article was published in The Malta Journal Edition 578.
