PN leadership candidate Adrian Delia moved beyond PN internal affairs at a press conference today, focusing instead on the need for long term planning of Malta’s economy.

He said that Malta needed to better exploit its advantage of being small by anticipating and preparing for economic trends, instead of reacting to them.

Governments, he said, needed to plan beyond five or 10 years, to as far as 50 years ahead.

Only that way could the laws, the roads, schools, factories and the workforce be prepared on time for growth in areas such as financial services, manufacturing, and tourism.

He said Malta’s potential growth sectors over the next few decades needed to be identified early by experts, which would include the University.

The lack of long-term planning was leading to haphazard development, as evidenced by the state of some industrial zones and tourist centres.

Dr Delia said action was also needed to maintain the growth momentum of sectors such as that of pharmaceuticals, which was developed by former PN governments. This sector, he said, needed to grow not just in manufacturing, but also in research and development.

The same applied to other sectors, such as financial services, as well as international arbitration.  

With regard to tourism, he said that ancient towns and cities such as Valletta, Mdina and Cottonera, needed not only to be conserved but given new life, which would make them more attractive. Protecting their stonework was simply not enough.