Speaking at the launch of the 47th International Trade Fair, Dr Gonzi said it is the biggest event in Malta’s commercial calendar and has served as a showcase of the products available on the local market for 47 consecutive years.
This year’s fair will be open to the public today and runs until 11 July. Participation is a record this year, with 334 exhibitors.
The prime minister spoke about the country’s finances, saying that government income was in line with plans and that the number of people registering for work is on the decrease.
“We are slowly moving in the right direction,” he said, “which means that if we are careful soon we will experience a rise in the general standard of living.”
Dr Gonzi said there were a number of factors that contributed to the progress being registered, making special mention of the uncertainty that had prevailed a year ago as a result of the democratic exercises that the country had undergone and that are now a thing of the past.
The same can be said of the fears that may have been related to impact of 1 May, he said.
“Not only is the country adapting well to the new reality but people are already experiencing its positive effects,” Dr Gonzi said.
He referred to the fact that in recent days prices had gone down on a number of consumer products as a result of the removal of levies, saying that Maltese consumers had the opportunity to experiment with the new choice that was available as a result of these price reductions.
For the most part, however, consumers realised that the Maltese products compete well both in terms of quality and price.
Speaking of foreign investment, he said that European Union membership had brought about a change in the way investors look at Malta, saying that “now that Malta was part of a strong economic bloc the country’s credibility was boosted (and this) created a platform for anyone who wanted to invest within a context of quality production standards.”
In this connection, he said local investors must not be forgotten, referring to a number of large-scale projects by Maltese investors that, he said, had hit the headlines recently.
He stressed the need for human resources, and said the Maltese economy was becoming increasingly reliant on the services sector. This was even reflected in the growth in participation this sector had achieved in the fair itself.
This year’s fair will be a showcase of Malta’s market competitiveness that, he said, is not simply a reduction of prices but rather a strategy that leads to larger production using less resources, while increasing the quality of the products sold.