Elderly people were a resource that should be tapped into further by providing an infrastructure allowing them to continue contributing towards society, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi said.

"There seems to be an assumption that when people reach retirement age they should be pigeonholed as individuals who can no longer contribute to society. This is a misconception," Dr Gonzi said.

He was speaking during a conference organised by the European Senior Citizen's Union themed The Elderly - An Asset Not A Liability.

Dr Gonzi said he completely agreed with the theme chosen. The challenge, he said, was to help elderly people remain involved through policies that encouraged accessibility and inclusivity on various levels.

He said there were three levels of accessibility to be tackled. The first was physical accessibility that allowed elderly people to move around. The planning authority, for example, ensured new buildings were equipped with lifts and ramps.

Secondly, intellectual accessibility had to be ensured through bridging the educational generation gap by, for example, helping the elderly acquire computer and IT skills.

"My 89-year-old father has been asking my sister to teach him how to use a computer. When he saw the keyboard, he commented that it was exactly like his Olympia typewriter... Now he's asking to learn how to communicate through the internet," Dr Gonzi said.

Finally, he said, there was the level of accessibility to opportunities where more effort had to be made to make opportunities available to the older generation. The setting up of the local council system, for example, had provided a platform for many pensioners to share their experience and continue making a difference in their locality.

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