Helga Ellul, the president of the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Enterprise, has welcomed the latest GDP figures for the final quarter of 2009 saying they were "encouraging".

Addressing the Chamber's annual general meeting she said: "This was the first positive figure after GDP had contracted in the previous three consecutive quarters of 2009. Nevertheless, let us take these early signs of recovery with caution. The makings of these early recovery signals are clearly still very fragile considering the world economic climate and several countries still experiencing grave economic difficulties."

Ms Ellul said it was too early to be enthusiastic because the latest official figures show that the economy's productive capabilities have suffered over the course of 2009.

"Official statistics show that compensation of employees increased marginally while corporate profits decreased. This is important, it shows that, on average, employers paid the highest cost of the international recession. We need to ensure that these trends are reversed as early as possible. We must ensure that the country's productive capabilities are enhanced through either increasing our labour force or the productivity of our labour force or a combination of both.

"We must ensure that we, the business people, are able to have enough profits to invest and arm our business with the most efficient technologies to increase productivity. As we have been stating all along, our government must ensure that it creates no unnecessary burden on the competitiveness position of our companies," she said.

The Chamber president dismissed the idea being mooted that increasing the minimum wage would address social problems saying: "We cannot disagree more with such a proposal".

"As stated by the Prime Minister, we feel that the social issues are being addressed by the social safety net. However, it is an undeniable fact that only business and enterprise can sustain the country's safety net. But for business to do so, we must all ensure it remains competitive. At this particularly sensitive time, we need to consolidate our competitiveness," she added.

Ms Ellul announced that on the question of the eco-contribution refunds and exemptions there exists a sound basis for an agreement after talks with the authorities. "We are pushing for the regulations to be finally published," she said.

"In terms of exemptions, the relevant legal notice was published in February but our members cannot benefit from exemptions and must continue to pay both eco-contribution and charges for their waste management schemes. Why? Because the Approving Body to decide on exemptions has not been set up and the other procedures have not been finalised," Ms Ellul said.

The Chamber president claimed that time does not have the same bearing in the public sector as in business adding that it seems to be quite acceptable in the public sector that months and years go by with the private sector "incurring extra costs without any action being taken to give us what should have been rightfully ours since 2005".

The authorities, she said, need to finally put their act together and stop "passing the buck" from one authority to another.

Ms Ellul said that the eco-contribution has also increased the problem of abuse in free movement of goods because illicit traders are attracted to products that carry the highest levels of taxation.

"For several years, our Chamber has been insisting with the authorities to put the necessary mechanisms in place to ensure the fair competition in the interest of our law-abiding members. There has always been a willingness to listen and take our views on board.

However, it takes too much time for the authorities to translate willingness into action. Meanwhile, precious time continues to be lost and within this lost time our members are losing rightful business, the government is losing precious tax revenue and consumer interests are continuously undermined," she said.

Ms Ellul told the delegates that business will not go back to how it was "before" but challenges bring new opportunities. "Competitiveness and creativity are key," she emphasised.

"We must be proud of our competitive edge and must ensure by all means that it will not become underminded by any other factors - locally or internationally. We have to use our creativity more productively and use and establish more synergies between all the stakeholders. Let us take advantage of our small size as a country and the close-knit business community. Our size has been recognised as one of our natural advantages in terms of attracting investment and we can use it even more and better."

Ms Ellul said it was definitely not her intention to portray a gloomy picture. On the contrary, she said, the Chamber has always maintained that the country has the right fundamentals for a strong recovery and a resilient economy.

"We have strong skills and a sound education system that we continuously improve upon as necessary. We have a sound financial system that has saved us from the worst effects of the international credit crunch," she concluded.