F.O.I. director general Wilfred Kenely gave a lecture on 'The Federation of Industry and Promotion of Competitiveness' as part of a training workshop on Competitiveness Strategies for Small States.

The workshop was organised by the Institute for Islands and Small States of the Foundation for International Studies at the University of Malta and was part of the Malta Commonwealth Third Country Training Programme.

During his lecture Mr Kenely discussed the challenges and constraints that local industry is facing as it strives to remain competitive, and the particular scenario that a small island state has to operate in.

He also dwelt on the key obstacles to competitiveness and to the recent benchmarking exercises, both the World Economic Forum index and the Lisbon Strategy review.

In these exercises Malta has slipped into worrying positions and it is in the interest of all the stakeholders, including the industry, to install the necessary restructuring measures leading to a turnaround of the present position.

Mr Kenely advocated for more control on public spending and tax evasion while stating that the country should invest more in innovation and knowledge creation and on the need to have highly skilled human resources.

The workshop came to an end on Friday, having been spread over two weeks. It hosted participants from a number of Commonwealth countries, including Jamaica, Cameroon, the Maldives and Tanzania.