The World Economic Forum has ranked the government of Malta as the second most successful government in the world in promoting the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT), the Investment, Industry and IT Ministry said yesterday.

That success is a direct result of the fact that, according to the same organisation, the government of Malta is the second ranked government in the world for giving ICT the most importance in its vision for the future.

These results were recorded in The Global Information Technology Report 2006-2007, published by the World Economic Forum. It is the most globally visible and respected acknowledgement to date of the success of the Information Technology Ministry that has, since 2000, worked to promote the use of technologies in Malta, the ministry said.

This recognition by the World Economic Forum will no doubt be noted by more investors seeking options on the global list of FDI destinations for their ICT projects.

Malta is in the worldwide top 10 rankings for the strong priority the government gives to ICTs, for the availability and efficiency of online services and for the per capita quantity of high-tech exports. Malta is also the world leader for high-speed monthly broadband subscriptions, proving the readiness of the population to avail itself of the opportunities of high-end broadband internet.

These world-rankings demonstrate Malta’s place as a centre of excellence in ICT and explain why it was chosen as the location for the first exportation of the Smart City concept, the ministry said.

But coming this far is merely the end of a concerted and coordinated effort by the government to realise the most ambitious vision any government of this country ever had – to become a world-leader in the technological stream that is the basis for tomorrow’s economy.

In 1998, the government appointed the first e-Minister in its ranks. Within two years the government set up an e-Malta Commission, tasked with implementing the government’s strategic vision for the island to become a world ICT leader. That vision was considered by critics in the opposition Labour Party as hyperbolic and delusional. For several years, the opposition did not bother to shadow this policy area in Parliament, the ministry said.

In spite of this discouraging reaction, a consensus was built in the community to promote and support the take-up of new technologies.

The Maltese business community had worked with the government and its global allies to provide Maltese users with the best technology at prices aimed at encouraging demand.

The government had funded and provided training to eliminate ICT illiteracy, and had made computers and the internet as natural a feature of school children’s lives as the old-fashioned blackboard.

The government had also led by example in transforming itself into one of the most technologically-savvy governments in the world, providing one of the world’s highest ratios of its services on line.

Malta’s global performance remains relatively weak among the local business community, that continues to receive middling ratings in the take-up of technology. This has encouraged the government to re-arrange its priorities for the new ICT strategic period for 2007-2010 to ensure greater take-up by the commercial sector. The competitiveness of Malta relies as much on the technological readiness of Maltese businesses as it does on the readiness of the government and the local infrastructure at large.

Minister Austin Gatt said: “We have much to be satisfied about. This report is yet more evidence, if any was needed, of just how far we have come. We are becoming very used to being ranked among the best in the world in this sector.

“The World Economic Forum is the ultimate testimonial in our sales portfolio on the world stage. This result will let us create more highly paid jobs for our young people right here in Malta.

“We have realised our vision but this is no time to rest. Staying on top is as tough as getting there. Our new National ICT Strategy for the next three years will be even more ambitious than the two documents that mapped out our work of the last six years.

“No doubt we will be just as criticised as before by those too myopic to see even as far as the significance of this report. No doubt either, the short-sightedness of others will again not make any difference to the results secured by the hard work of the government, the business and educational communities and the people of Malta to carve such a significant niche for ourselves on the world stage.”