Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi this morning visiting the works being carried out at the Actavis plant in Bulebel to expand the warehouse project, that is spread over 5,000 square metres in a €13 million project.

The company employs 603 people and has a manufacturing plant and a research and development facility. The company is also involved in an international merger with the Watson group which has another company (Arrow) at Hal Far. This exercise should be complete by the end of the year.

Dr Gonzi was shown around by the recently appointed general manager Patrick Cachia.

A worker asked Dr Gonzi what was being done for Malta to be attractive to companies so that they could to remain here when there were international mergers.

Dr Gonzi said the country had to ensure that it had the best workforce, that it targeted industries that produce value added and that it continued to offer tax advantages even by given certain industries priority because of their strategic value.

An employee complained about the tax that had to be paid on overtime, and Dr Gonzi explained how he had to find the middle of the road of ensuring adequate income for government while leaving enough money in people’s pockets.

He referred to the last election promise to reduce the top income tax rate but said that the recession had changed priorities. In spite of this, the government did tweak taxes between 2007 and 2009 and a number of other incentives were introduced.

Dr Gonzi noted that a good number of managers at Actavis were women. He referred to the drive by the European Commission for a greater representation of women boards and said that while the government was placing more women in decision making positions, he did not feel this was something that should be imposed on the private sector. Actavis, he noted, had taken this proposal on board without imposition.

 

 

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