Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning stressed the importance of ethics in politics and appealed against personal attacks and the involvement of family members in political discourse.

Addressing a political activity in Safi, he appealed for certain standards and values to be adhered to.

The Prime Minister said that this was a very good week for Malta with positive economic reports from the International Monetary Fund and the European Commission and two crucial government parliamentary votes being taken.

The government could now continue to work on national priorities, especially on job creation. There were still challenges which had to be overcome and he hoped that they would be faced with respect and maturity.

He used pharmaceutical investment in Malta as an example that government strategy was working.

Dr Gonzi said that the average wage rose by almost €2,000 in the past four years while the minimum wage had gone up by €1,000.

He agreed with an audience member that Malta should digitise its archives and put them online and said that he would see that funds for the purpose were allocated in future budgets.

The Maltese, the Prime Minister said, needed to become more aware of the priceless nature of these archives.

He spoke at some length about the importance of education and investment in new industries, especially science based ones.

The Malta Council for Science and Technology in Bighi was an example of the government's vision in this regard and the government was eager to expand it and open it to children of all ages.

He conceded that Malta was sometimes limited in the number of specialised courses it could offer but noted that the government had an extensive scholarship programme for students to study abroad if they needed to.

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