Education key to achieving Vision 2015

Education was yesterday pinpointed as a necessary ingredient to achieve the goals the country set out in its 2015 vision to become a centre of excellence in six areas.

This was the outcome of a national conference on the government's vision, with many stressing that investment in education was key to achieving the aims.

Education was the key factor during the six workshops held during the conference, which focused on ICT, financial services, tourism, education, health and high-value manufacturing.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi called on the Maltese to have faith in Vision 2015, saying the country would have failed if this vision was just seen as the government's programme.

"Vision 2015 will only happen if we carry out reforms wherever necessary... We cannot stare at problems without doing anything," he said.

Dr Gonzi also spoke about the present global financial situation, saying Malta would have been worse hit had it not been an EU member state and had it not adopted the euro. These had dampened the effect of the financial crisis.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said that, for its Vision 2015, the government had chosen six sectors, which were set to be the pillars of the country's economy: ICT, financial services, education, tourism, health and the manufacturing industry.

The choice was based on the importance the government was attaching to the diversification of the economy. Investment and success in each sector automatically spilled over to other sectors.

One of the visions the government wanted to achieve by 2015 was to increase the contribution of the financial services sector to 25 per cent of GDP from the present 12 per cent, he said.

Mr Fenech spoke on the need to attract higher-end tourism, focusing on the island's cultural heritage and improving its productivity.

There should be a focus on health tourism through private hospitals. Giving an overview of what was discussed during the workshops on the six priority areas, the rapporteurs underlined education as the key to achieving excellence in that specific area.

Micheline Sciberras, in her presentation on the education workshop, called on the government to take immediate action. If certain measures relating to the education system take years to be implemented, Malta could lose its edge over other countries.

Education was also crucial for the country's health system, according to the participants of the health workshop. Natasha Muscat Azzopardi said people had to start taking responsibility for their own health and not turn to the government to heal their ailments.

She also spoke about the possibility of introducing fiscal incentives for those who took out private health insurance.

Meanwhile, focusing on tourism, the Malta Tourism Authority's CEO, Josef Formosa Gauci said people working in tourism, especially in hotels, had to be more educated and aware of Malta's cultural and historical heritage. It was unacceptable that people working within the sector did not know the basics of Maltese history.

Mr Formosa Gauci said there should be more enforcement to improve what was commonly referred to as product Malta.

The airstrip in Gozo was "a necessity" to link the two islands and the sister island needed a cruise liner terminal and berthing facilities for yachts.

There were several things that could be done now, without having to wait for Vision 2015, Mr Formosa Gauci pointed out.