Unfortunately, said Mr Fenech, there are social partners who still believe that a final agreement will favour one sector and not another.

“I am making a last ditch appeal that discussions cannot ignore the international realities that surround us and particularly what other competing economies are doing. I appeal for a bit more courage.

“There are burdens that have to be carried if we want to give a breather to the productive sectors in order to generate more jobs and economic expansion,” he said.

People are waiting for an important signal from the government and social partners: one that says they can identify the issues and the decisions that need taking and, more importantly, will take them together, said Mr Fenech.

“The ‘Who? Not us!’ syndrome needs to be broken if we are going to have a social pact that is relevant to the international economic realities we are facing. The task at hand cannot be achieved solely through government intervention.

“We can only reach our objectives if there is consensus and a willingness to work at these goals together. It is most unfortunate that some of the social partners still do not appreciate the urgency of this call and allow sectorial agendas to hinder the whole process,” he said.

Mr Fenech expressed the hope that, after several months of weekly intensive discussions, “we will clinch this common goal and appreciate that there are no winners and losers in these negotiations but only winners, if we manage to make our country more competitive”.

This is a must if we want to stimulate expansion, job creation and investment opportunities, he said.

Any changes and measures have to take international developments into consideration, said Mr Fenech, because these circumstances outside Malta’s shores are crucial for the country’s

economy.

He said it is the government’s vision to stimulate the economy and to support all initiatives that strengthen the structures critical to economic growth and stability.

“Fiscal and monetary policy, structural reforms, further liberalisation, restructuring the public sector and the economy, strengthening the financial markets and investing in our human resources, research and innovation are some of the many other economic related components lead to the strengthening of our economy,” he said.

Regarding the accountancy profession itself, Mr Fenech spoke about the high degree of trust which is placed in the profession by the various stakeholders, adding that the government was committed to maintaining and strengthening this position of trust.