A Malta Attractiveness Survey conducted among industry executives by Ernst and Young has found that Malta needs to reduce bureaucracy, reduce energy costs and improve the energy supply. It also needs to improve the roads and shipping links and offer better fiscal incentives for investment.

The survey results, announced today, found that human resources remained the biggest draw for investment to Malta, as well as euro adoption and investment support measures.

Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, who addressed a conference in which the results were announced, said the biggest challenge which the government faced was to ensure that Malta had the necessary skills supply for the next five to 10 years, since importing labour would undermine competitiveness.

The governemnt, he said, was also focusing on energy supply security and doing all it could to keep prices in check, although that depended heavily on the international price of oil.

The environment, he said, was also a priority, including the infrastructure and better waste management, which was very important for manufacturing industry.

Dr Gonzi said one had to be careful about slashing bureaucracy. What was needed, he said, was regulation that was fast, objective, reasonable and transparent. It was anything beyond that which needed to be removed.

The survey also found that only 20 per cent of companies in Malta have installed renewable energy technologies on their premises, whereas 72 per cent have installed energy-efficient equipment. The decision was based on costs.

The international recession was found to have affected 82 per cent of companies surveyed.

The conference was introduced by Ernst and Young managing partner Mario Galea.