A consultation document on “how to the take the financial services sector to the next level” is due to be published in the coming days, the Prime Minister announced this afternoon.
Joseph Muscat was addressing a special session of the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry council at its premises in Valletta.
In a brief address, Dr Muscat spoke on the need to maintain the economic momentum gained during the past five years, by upgrading the country’s infrastructure.
He noted that apart from the seven-year plan to improve the road network, the government was also working to strengthen the financial services.
“This morning Cabinet approved a consultation document which will be launched in the next few days when we will be consulting key stakeholders on taking this sector to the next level,” he said.
He reiterated plans to set up a Brexit task force comprising members from the private and the public sectors.
The Prime Minister referred to the ailing national airline saying Air Malta was one of the government’s biggest challenges.
He said there was room for a Malta-based airline offering connections to the North African region. The national carrier would also be increasing routes and its fleet as part of its commercial strategy, Dr Muscat added. Moreover, talks on a new collective agreement would soon start, apart from the long-term issue of seeking a strategic partner.
Chamber president Frank Farrugia hailed government’s pro-business approach but denounced the plan to reverse a decision taken by the PN government in 2005 to stop giving workers an extra day of leave when public holidays fell on a weekend.
The Labour Party promised to reverse this decision in its June 3 election manifesto.
Reacting to Mr Farrugia’s concerns, the Prime Minister said he was confident a “workable” solution could be found. He acknowledged that the measure was a controversial one.Dr Muscat said Equality Minister Helena Dalli would be heading the talks with the social partners.
Dr Muscat said Equality Minister Helena Dalli would be heading talks with the social partners.
“We believe that we can come up with feasible solutions to promote optimism and support workers and consumers for them to achieve a positive work-life balance which, in turn, will be good for businesses,” he said.
The council meeting continued behind closed doors.