Under the agreement, which is aimed at improving the free movement of people between the two countries, Maltese living in New Zealand and New Zealanders living in Malta will have their pensions paid by the country in which they now live.
It also provides for equality of treatment, “meaning that persons covered by the agreement are to be treated equally with regards to rights and obligations under the legislation of Malta and New Zealand," according to a statement released yesterday by the Maltese government.
The agreement will only affect around 23 people in the first four years, “including five New Zealanders living in Malta”, according to the New Zealand news website Voxy.co.nz.
Paula Bennett, New Zealand’s social development minister, signed the agreement while on a visit to Malta. Malta’s minister for the family and social solidarity, the Hon Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca, represented the Maltese government.
The signing of the agreement with Malta will be viewed with interest by British pensioners living in New Zealand, who are among an estimated 500,000 British expats who have had their pensions “frozen” from the date they started to take their pension in their new country. This means that the amount of pension they receive will never be more than what it would have been that year, even though those pensioners who remain in Britain, or who live in certain other countries, will have their pensions “up-rated” annually.
Ironically, most Commonwealth countries – like New Zealand – are included in the frozen list.
