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By the end of this year, more than 73% of all lands transferred to the Government under the Agreement with the Holy See will have been registered. The Minister for Culture, Lands and Local Government Owen Bonnici visited the Joint Office, where he met with the administration and employees to closely observe the progress made in the implementation of the 1991 Agreement between the Government of Malta and the Holy See so that immovable property not required by the Church for pastoral purposes is transferred to the Government for use for public needs, particularly social ones. This visit took place in the context of the Joint Office’s ongoing commitment to implement the target of registering 90% of the property transferred to the Government under the 1991 agreement by 2027. By the end of this year, the Joint Office will have managed to reach the target of 73% registration. The plan for the coming period is for 80% of this property to be registered by the end of December 2026, and 90% for the year 2027. During this visit, Minister Bonnici thanked the employees of the Joint Office for their commitment and said that the Government is committed to ensuring that the property under the responsibility of the state is registered and thus, while there is more certainty and peace of mind, the state will be in a better position to place this immovable property at the disposal of the Maltese and Gozitan people for public purposes, particularly social ones. Minister Bonnici said that through the digitalisation system in the registration of this property, the way in which property is transferred in the country has been modernised. He recalled how this agreement between Government and Church remains a historic one not only in the relations between the two sides, but above all because through this decision the Government has placed, over the years, a number of properties to be used for social, health, educational purposes, as well as social housing projects. Source: MCLG Photos: MCLG