Port reform talks to continue this week

Discussions between the government and port workers are set to continue this week after the Malta Dockers Union presented its position on the proposed port reform to the Competitiveness Ministry yesterday.

Competitiveness Minister Censu Galea said the government was still committed to putting into effect the reform by the end of the year.

Little progress was made in the past three months, he said, because of developments which had seen workers set up a new union.

The port workers and teleclerks are now represented by the Malta Dockers Union, while the foremen are represented by Union Haddiema Maghqudin.

The reform has so far led to a drop of around five per cent in fees although not everyone agreed this was the case, the minister said.

The final target, he said, was to reduce the fees by around 25 per cent. He insisted this must happen by the end of the year.

Mr Galea was speaking during a press conference making public Malta's annual progress report for 2006 for the national reform programme 2005-2008 (NRP).

Malta, he said, had agreed with the European Commission to prioritise on the sustainability of public finances; competitiveness; employment; education and training; and the environment.

One of the NRP aims to increase competitiveness was to further improve the infrastructure, especially ports.

Overall, the government was satisfied with the results obtained in the first year. Implementation was progressing as planned and the government was encouraged by the progress being achieved, the minister added.

The NRP, he said, represented an important yardstick by which the government's performance and the people's quality of life could be measured.

Malta had reached its main targets in public finances and made enormous progress in ICT.