Thank you

When I was young, I was always brought up to say thank you when anything was done for me. I was taught to say thank you for things that were done for me as a kindness, things that were done for me as my right and things that were done for me perhaps by accident. I was also taught to say thank you even if the things that were done took an awful long time to be done.

Encouraging people with thanks is, I believe, a very positive gesture.

I was taught to say thank you as a sign of respect and, also when I was young, I said thank you in order to encourage the people doing things for me to continue their fine gestures for the foreseeable future!

Certain things have happened in the Maltese islands these last few years that were done by the authorities and for which I believe they deserve thanks and encouragement.

I, therefore, would like to thank the authorities for creating, maintaining and establishing the following:

¤ Getting our country into Europe as a full member of the European Union.

¤ Obtaining a massive aid package, that if utilised properly could make Malta an extraordinary pleasant place in which to live.

¤ A very smart, presentable and functional international airport.

¤ The formation of Air Malta. A very acceptable airline for a country of our size. What would we have done without it?

¤ A financial services sector that has kept Malta honest and respectable.

¤ A telecommunication system that has kept us abreast of world developments.

¤ An amazing public/private organisation that has, and is, transforming our visible public areas and gardens into places of which we can be very proud.

¤ Giving encouragement and issuing permits to the excellent cruise liner terminal that will transform, once again, our wonderful Grand Harbour into one of the finest and elegant in the World.

¤ Having the foresight and courage to issue permits for the award-winning Portomaso complex that has been instrumental in lifting Malta's image to match the best in the world in the overseas property markets.

¤ For giving us a beautiful selection of seaside promenades that compare very favourably with other upmarket countries and also the insistence that in the future these must be maintained and immediate surrounding areas embellished.

¤ For finally doing the resurfacing of St George's Road and doing it in record time.

¤ For eventually creating a sandy beach in St George's Bay that is an enormous improvement to the area and also a credit to the hard work of all the people involved. This is the future and this embellishment project has shown us the way.

¤ For the issue of tenders, accepting the design and the implementation of attractive bus stops throughout the Maltese islands. This will be followed, I understand, by the removal of the ugly advertising boards on our roads and substituting them with very smart new ones.

We thank God for giving us fine weather and crystal clear seas but for all other things we must rely heavily on the authorities. They have a great responsibility to arrange all things in Malta for the betterment of the place and the people.

I look forward to thanking the authorities for many more things in the future and, if I have missed important items, then I apologise. I would also like to stress that there are many more items in the pipeline that need or are due to be done. Let us not let these stagnate.

We, in Malta, seem to be in a doing mode at present. Let us remain in the same direction and in a few years' time this country will be so much better.