After two decades in government, and a few months away from a general election the Nationalist Party has published a vision statement entitled “Vision 2015”. The vision is very broadly defined but not beefed up. The Prime Minister is asking everyone to subscribe to this vision and contribute to its realisation. Well, Dr Gonzi, here is my two cents worth.

Politicians dream. Indeed it is our mission to dream the future and work towards realising it. However, when we talk about dreams, I believe we should refer to the metaphoric rather than the literal aspect of dreams. Political dreams should be ambitious, granted. However they cannot be detached from the social, economic and political reality in which they are meant to be realised. When dreams become divorced from reality, despite the best of efforts and goodwill, they tend to fail. Because of its practical impossibility, Dr Gonzi’s vision verges on the hallucinatory. It needs focus.

The Prime Minister is stating that by 2015 he wishes Malta to become a centre of excellence in six spheres, namely ICT, financial services, tourism, education, health and manufacturing; basically a centre of excellence in everything. The frivolity with which he and Joe Saliba use the term “centre of excellence” is indicative of the fact that, although they are committed to the idea, they do not fully understand the implications of the concept. Achieving centre of excellence status in any single field is no mean feat – quite the reverse. It means that you achieve “world class” status. It means that other countries look to you and attempt to copy your efforts. It means that you achieve sustainable long-term advantage irrespective of your cost base. It means that you acquire intellectual property rights over your processes and inventions. It requires very heavy investment in research, infrastructure, human resources and marketing. It requires the focusing of resources. Most important of all it requires time. Dr Gonzi and Joe Saliba believe we can have six centres of excellence in seven years. That’s not ambitious, it’s outrageous.

The goal is outrageous simply due to the fact that in some of the sectors Dr Gonzi indicated (e.g. education, health and tourism) we are way below standard, let alone close to achieving centre of excellent status. Let’s just take tourism as an example. What centre of excellence in tourism is Dr Gonzi talking about? How can we have a centre of excellence in tourism when the government is content with our Third World public transport system, when our urban and rural environment have been permanently damaged, when we can’t even keep our tiny bays free from sewage outflows, when we prolong the taxi monopoly, when we continue building in the little countryside left, when it takes two years to repair a 150-metre bridge, when our roads remain what they are? Why can’t we admit that we have caused permanent damage to tourism and are now reliant on sheer numbers to balance the books? Instead of talking for the next seven years about an illusory vision for tourism, why can’t we take immediate action to rectify the loads of imperfections that have damaged the tourist sector? For starters we can get the pavements fixed, streets swept, buses washed and drivers educated, monuments and museums cleaned, Merchant Street finished, contractors regulated, and building sites closed off properly. We won’t however. The government will continue talking about its vision, and Labour will continue promising 1.6 million tourists till 2015 and beyond. The problem with this country is that when things depend on the government, we never seem to be able to get the basics right.

My criticism does not mean that we should not strive to have centres of excellence. Mine is a call to realism – an attempt to get the government to focus. Successful economies all tend to have their centres of excellence. However, by definition, centres of excellence are few. Take Switzerland as an example. This country is a centre of excellence in three sectors – pharmaceuticals, private banking and luxury goods. A country like Switzerland, with only seven million people, has managed to achieve global competitiveness in these three sectors because it has focused its financial, human and political resources towards this end; not over seven years but over 200 or so years. Achieving centres of excellence takes more than the printing of a pamphlet and a sexed-up general conference as a backdrop. It requires a clear understanding of your strengths and weaknesses and a realistic view of what you can achieve. Most important of all it requires focus. The first lesson in designing a vision statement for Malta is that it has to be ambitious but narrow. If we spread our resources too thinly we will end up excelling at nothing. Dr Gonzi if you want to create centres of excellence, fine. The Greens will even support the initiative; but it would be wise to focus the task on two, perhaps three, centres of excellence. Keep in mind that you are talking about a time frame of seven years.

In our opinion the two sectors where we can achieve “centres of excellence” are financial services and ICT. Financial services have taken off and will continue growing exponentially. We have the right skills, a superb location and the blessing of speaking the language of international finance. The government’s contribution is to ensure that our legislation continues to give us a competitive edge and to ensure that our education system supplies the sector with highly trained people. In ICT, SmartCity will certainly be a catalyst; however SmartCity is a decade away. In the meantime the government should continue investing in building the relevant education and skills to service this sector. It would also be wise to start modifying our tax system to attract more local and international ICT business to our shores, before SmartCity is up and running. In four or five years’ time, we should gauge our performance in these two sectors and take a decision to develop another sector of excellence.

Despite the fact that Vision 2015 contains a strong element of pre-electoral propaganda, I believe that if the idea is pursued prudently and diligently it can give the country medium to long-term direction. However, the targets need to be more realistic, and far better focused. The Greens may share a more realistic version of Dr Gonzi’s vision. What we will not do however is subscribe to Joe Saliba’s pre-electoral hallucination.

Edward P. Fenech is the spokesperson on finance, the economy and tourism of Alternattiva Demokratika – The Green Party