Malta–Yugoslavia relations (; ; ; ) were historical foreign relations between

Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

and now split-up

Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

. Together with

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, both countries belonged to the small group of

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

an and

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

member states of the

Non-Aligned Movement The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is a forum of 121 countries that Non-belligerent, are not formally aligned with or against any major power bloc. It was founded with the view to advancing interests of developing countries in the context of Cold W ...

during the

Cold War The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...

, group which itself part of the larger group of

neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

and non-aligned European countries. The Non-aligned countries in Europe advocated for relaxation of divisions, rejection of superpowers' spheres of influence and for cooperation of diverse countries on the continent. During the

period all three Non-Aligned Euro-Mediterranean countries developed close economic cooperation with the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

. The first informal contacts between socialist Yugoslavia and Malta occurred in the final stage of the

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

when in 1944 group of

Yugoslav Partisans The Yugoslav Partisans,Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian language, Macedonian, and Slovene language, Slovene: , officially the National Liberation Army and Partisan Detachments of Yugoslavia sh-Latn-Cyrl, Narodnooslobodilačka vojska i partizanski odr ...

was in Malta for hospital treatment and further military training. Partisans left some of German weapons they took in fight which was subsequently exposed at the National War Museum at

Fort Saint Elmo Fort Saint Elmo () is a star fort in Valletta, Malta. It stands on the seaward shore of the Sciberras Peninsula that divides Marsamxett Harbour from Grand Harbour, and commands the entrances to both harbours along with Fort Tigné and Fort Ri ...

. Due to its commitment to Non-alignment Maltese diplomacy played more prominent role in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

than the country's size or bilateral trade would imply. Malta and Yugoslavia, together with Cyprus, advocated for recognition of European and Mediterranean aspect of Non-alignment. This was perceived as an insistence on the universalist interpretation of the movement and as opposed to exclusively tri-continental proposals (

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

). During Mintoff's rule in Malta, marked by relations with Qaddafi's Libya, Yugoslavia remained warm ally of Malta, probably the main one in Europe. President Mintoff was invited by the

Prime Minister of Yugoslavia The prime minister of Yugoslavia ( sh-Cyrl-Latn, Премијер Југославије, Premijer Jugoslavije) was the head of government of the Yugoslav state, from the creation of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes in 1918 until the ...

Džemal Bijedić Džemal Bijedić ( cyrl, Џемал Биједић, ; 12 April 1917 – 18 January 1977) was a Bosnian and Yugoslav politician who served as Prime Minister of Yugoslavia from July 1971 until his death in a plane crash in January 1977. He additi ...

to visit Yugoslavia between 9 and 15 October 1971 where he met president Tito,

Edvard Kardelj Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans, and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II ...

and

Mirko Tepavac Mirko Tepavac ( sr-cyr, Мирко Тепавац; 13 August 1922 – 28 August 2014) was a Yugoslav and Serbian politician and communist activist who was the Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (a ...

. Future foreign minister Michael Frendo wrote his graduate thesis in 1977 on "

Workers' self-management Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-managed economy, ...

: A new concept of the legal structure of the enterprise in Malta and Yugoslavia".

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malta-Yugoslavia relations

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

Bilateral relations of Yugoslavia Malta–Montenegro relations Malta–Serbia relations Malta–Slovenia relations

Country comparison

See also

References