'Electorate will consider government's achievements'

For the coming general election which was not so far away, the people would have to choose between a successful Nationalist government and a Labour Party which for years has been prophesising doom and gloom, the Prime Minister said yesterday. Addressing a mass meeting at the Granaries in Floriana on the 43rd anniversary of the country's independence, Dr Gonzi said that when the time comes the people would have to consider the government's achievements in the past five years.

These include the acquisition of €855 million in EU funds, lower taxes, a record foreign investment, the lowest unemployment rate in the past 10 years, a record number of students, the opening of new factories, new roads, a new hospital, new schools, better services and homes for the elderly, pension, port and education reforms and a much stronger economy.

As they had done in the past, once it was again time to choose, the people would again go for what was in the best interest of the country.

Dr Gonzi said that on last May 1, he had announced the government's vision which should lead the country to 2015.

It now wanted the people to own this vision and look ahead to what could be achieved.

This vision, he said, had been born out of what the people had told the government in meetings which had been held with all categories of society.

The government translated what the people wanted into a plan choosing to focus on six sectors that were important for the development of Malta and of Gozo, which had its own particular needs.

The government, wanted Malta to become a centre of excellence in the Mediterranean in IT, financial services, manufacture, tourism, education and health.

It was already being successful in IT and it would be more so with the opening of SmartCity.

A year ago, Labour leader Alfred Sant, in an article in The Times, had described this investment as speculation.

In financial services, the aims could be reached well before 2015 but the country had to ensure that enough workers were prepared for this development.

Manufacture was a difficult sector but the country could also be successful in it.

Lufthansa Technik, for example, was a success story and the Freeport another. Dr Gonzi hoped that more investment in the Freeport could be announced soon.

Companies, he said, were choosing to invest here because the country possessed workers of the best quality, a serious government, a strong economy and a good progress rate.

Determination, optimism, enthusiasm and passion, he said, were needed to make the government's vision a reality, pointing out that the cost of oil had again reached record highs as had the cost of grains.

Earlier in his address, Dr Gonzi referred to illegal migration saying Malta had applied for EU assistance to overcome this problem while respecting the dignity of the people involved. Most of the people arriving here illegally, he said, were victims of criminality.

They would have suffered greatly and the Maltese should respect their dignity while requesting assistance from the EU to deal with the problem. Assurance had already been given but much more had to be done. Had Malta not become an EU member, it would have had to solve this problem on its own without the assistance of the other member states.

The government's success was due to the fact that it was a government that listened to the people and gave them what they wanted. This could be said for low-cost airlines, better roads and a better environment.

The government was still listening to the people who were now calling for better law enforcement, a cleaner country and political parties that declared what they were doing with their money.