The Information Technology Business Section of The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, has welcomed the news that Malta has placed at the top of the EU rankings with respect to the deployment of e-government. It said it believes that this is a very important achievement, showing that a strong government vision supported by private enterprise is the recipe for success.

Speaking about the results, Keith Fearne, chairman of the Business Section, said: "Over the last years there has been an important change in strategy with regards to ICT. From being considered simply as a technology infrastructure, a new vision has been developed positioning ICT as a pillar of the economy, an enabler for a more efficient public service and a means to deliver a better quality of life to Maltese citizens. At the Malta Chamber we have been working on this vision for the last 20 years. We congratulate MITA and the ICT industry for this excellent result, and augur that this partnership will continue to bring more successes."

The IT Business Section also gave its reaction to MITA's recent publication of its Strategic Plan for 2009-2012, at a recent NISCO session held at the Mediterranean Conference Centre. The main comments were positive ones, with the Business Section applauding the fact that it is now clear that a political decision has been taken to divest MITA of the delivery capability and pass this on to private enterprise, where it should always have resided.

The new strategic, governance and programme management role assumed by MITA, developed on industry best practice guidelines and frameworks is a very important step in moving up the ICT capability model. The Business Section pledged that industry would give all the necessary support and continue to make the necessary investments to ensure that it would be in a position to deliver to MITA's expectations.