A national committee is to be appointed in the near future to assess what fiscal incentives could be given fto encourage the use of electric cars, Resources Minister George Pullicino said this morning.

In a speech in parliament he admitted that Malta had fallen behind in the renewable energy sector, but emphasised that the government was determined to take all necessary action. Malta, he said, needed solar and wind energy as well as a generated through waste, but there should be more focus on existing sources of renewable energy.

Mr Pullicino was winding up a 180-minute debate on a motion which approved Malta’s membership of the International Renewable Energy Agency (Irena), officially established in Bonn in January last year.