Gonzi aims for Budget surplus by 2010

The government is aiming to achieve a Budget surplus by 2010, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told Nationalist Party councillors yesterday.

The councillors are meeting over the weekend to discuss documents related to the party's vision.

Dr Gonzi said it was important for the country's finances to be sound as the government needed money to be able to execute projects that formed part of its 2015 vision for Malta to be a centre of excellence in several fields.

"The year 2015 is not that far off. The country has a lot of potential and we are already advanced in many sectors."

Focusing on health, he said there were a number of targets in the health sector which could be achieved.

The government, he said, was determined to tackle the oncology sector and a quality leap would be made in many other sectors as well.

"We already have a lot we should be grateful for, not least the private general practitioners who are dedicated and who make home visits even late at night," he said.

Dr Gonzi said challenges existed and one had to work to overcome them.

"One of the biggest challenges is how to attract people to the different sectors we are working on and we need a trained workforce in each of them.

"We need people to work in IT, but we also want people to work in the health, education, tourism and other sectors we are aiming to excel in," he said.

Over the next 18 months, the government had to take a close look at how human resources could be used.

"Over the past years we have invested money in successive budgets to encourage women to continue working or to return to work. We have specific targets till 2015 as having targets helps you achieve results," he said.