Opposition leader Joseph Muscat this morning urged the government to provide civil society with a platform for dialogue to determine the future course of the country and the economy and said the opposition would be interested in participating in this dialogue.
“We need to work on a strategy that is focused not only on minimising the damage from the current international crisis but also to transform this country into the Best in Europe.
“This strategy will focus on how Malta could create competitive advantage and create income and jobs on the basis of taxation and national insurance, a focus on human resource skills, renewable energy, transport and international connectivity, sustainable and real-estate development and an aggressive international marketing campaign.”
Dr Muscat made his comments at a seminar on Malta’s unique value proposition and international image as a centre for business, investment and financial services.
He said the Maltese should to nurture their value proposition by embarking on a nationwide campaign that underpined the need for Malta to be, and to be known worldwide, as a high quality destination.
“The need for quality should feature amongst all aspects of Maltese society: including the way we manage our natural and urban environment, our educational system, human resources, the way government delivers its services and our regulatory structures in general.
The Opposition leader highlighted Malta’s strengths, including its stability, sound financial regulation and flexible work force but said a number of issues needed to be addressed.
These included an increasing shortage of skilled people, disjointed marketing and branding and a need for consistency and credibility. He said the dramatically altering utility rates at short notice and introducing them retroactively was not a smart thing to do.
“Also, how can Malta be taken seriously when claiming that it is a ‘centre of excellence in IT’ when government’s IT security system was blatantly infringed and nobody is held accountable?”
He said that Malta also needed to show more respect for the environment and more effort needs to be placed to ensure that the people could sustain and improve the nation’s grasp of foreign languages and in particular the English language.
When he referred to the international economic crisis and after calling for dialogue on the future of the economy, Dr Muscat stressed that Malta had to go down the route of doing something that was extraordinary. That meant cutting taxes, doing away with burdens and investing in its economy.
The seminar was organised by EMCS business advisors.