When one thinks of Germany, one thinks of quality. When one thinks of Italy, one thinks of fashion and design. When one thinks of Singapore, one thinks of efficiency. When one thinks of Finland, one thinks of Nokia. When one thinks of Ireland, one thinks of Guinness. What we are talking about is the business identity of a number of countries.
We can think of other examples such as precision for Switzerland; or tax haven for a country like the Cayman Islands; or cruising for a number of states in the Caribbean Sea.
For some countries, the business identity is tied to a concept, like quality and fashion. For other countries, the business identity is tied to a brand like Nokia, while for some other countries the business identity is tied to a specific economic activity like cruising. Irrespective of what it is, there is clarity in what the economy of the country stands for.
This business identity could change over time like it has changed in the United Kingdom, which has moved from the role of a manufacturer to that of a trader. Moreover, one could have more than one identity, like Italy has, where one could add the Ferrari brand in addition to the concepts of fashion and design.
If one were to ask the question about Malta, I am not sure what answers one would get. Probably one would use words like hospitality; in some cases it could be productivity; possibly one would hear the word efficiency. The word "hospitality" is directly linked to the strength of the tourism industry while the words "productivity" and "efficiency" are tied to the foreign direct investment that we have managed to attract in the manufacturing sector. However, it is evident that we do not necessarily have a clear business identity.
This may not be such a big problem because countries like Hungary, Romania and the Czech Republic cannot claim title to any particular business identity - and yet they continue to attract foreign investment and their economy is growing. In effect, their economic growth is very much tied to the lower level of labour costs and the transition process from a centrally-planned economy to a market economy.
It may well happen that these features are short-lived and the lack of a clear business identity could present them with problems. Or it might well happen that, in this process, they do manage to create a well-defined business identity and their future economic growth would be very much influenced by it.
The business identity of a country is not its economic strategy. The economic strategy is rather a reflection of the policies that are adopted to project the business identity and to strengthen it. The business identity seeks to project the role that a country aspires to have in the world economy. It will reflect its leading edge over other economies.
A country may choose not to have one but, in a highly competitive environment, a country's comparative advantage needs to be recognised. Hence, I believe that the question that we should be asking as a country is not what economic strategy we should have but what business identity we should have.
Subsequently, we need to draw up policies and map out strategies that help us to establish firmly that identity. It is not necessarily something that lies in the exclusive domain of the public sector.
I do not think that the identity of Germany as a place for quality was established by its government. It is rather the result of initiatives taken by the private sector and extensive support across the board by the public sector. This support ranged from financial incentives to educational programmes.
In fact, I strongly believe that the role of the social partners in this regard is critical but I am not certain if they recognise that they actually have a role to play.
No one can claim to have the magical solution of how to address the challenges that our economy is facing. There needs to be a concerted effort by all that goes beyond the life of a government. Unfortunately, at times we wasted too much time on specific issues like VAT (a debate that lasted four years) or membership of the European Union (a debate that lasted from 1979 to 2003).
In the past there have been attempts by the government to establish a specific business identity (for example the concept of the hub economy) but the social partners shied away from the issue.
It does not seem to be in our nature to seek to shape the future for ourselves. What I am advocating is that there is a meaningful debate with the objective of reaching consensus on what Malta's business identity should be such that the vision that we all have of this country as a prosperous nation can become a reality.