The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting took place last week, and Malta played host. We really lived up to our reputation, as the main programme of events and meetings under the patronage of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth unfolded. This time the weather held rather well for such an event.

This type of event helps to bring over some guests who may have not come here for many years. I was informed that it has been many a decade that a British prime minister did not make a visit to Malta. Bilateral discussions, common viewpoints, economic issues are best talked about directly. We stand to benefit in the medium and long term.

The programme as laid out with all its backroom logistics, the organisation, the timings and coordination was something extraordinary. People from all walks of life did flock to greet the Queen, and rightly so too.

The opening ceremony of the Commonwealth meeting was a beautiful thing. It was an excellent performance that once again showed how talented Maltese artists and organisers are.

Another form of welcome to our guests was given by the high officials of the General Workers’ Union. Dressed in open shirts or “woolleys”, they handed out welcome cards to the foreign delegations. It was not an invitation for these foreigners to invest in Malta and create jobs, but to inform them that the Maltese worker, in their eyes, is being trampled upon.

Later on in the week, on Thursday, and the very day that Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi was meeting potential foreign investors, the GWU had one of their planned marches in Valletta.

This time the dress code was “lounge”. The leaders of the Labour Party mingled with their privileged union in a short march down part of Republic Street, where vows were taken to topple the government.

Now, may I ask, and with the prevailing backdrop, how many jobs were created by this march downtown?

Through such events, not only do we scare away a foreign potential investor, but the local economic driver may take his investment away from this island.

Their actions are so negative and the results probably have the opposite effect to the one intended.

But why is this union, that protests in the name of the worker, so interested in getting into power in Malta? Isn’t that the job of the opposition? Why should workers be used in this way?

All the workers want, all workers mind you, is the peaceful climate that creates jobs. All manufacturing jobs lost in the past year or so, unfortunately due to a global competition, and our rather high wage elements, have been replaced in other trades – more specialised and advanced. This is our way forward.

The competition from China, Brazil and India is hurting the world, let alone our tiny Malta.

This government is doing its utmost to keep investment here, in spite of all these internal obstacles that hinder this very goal.

Robert Arrigo is a Nationalist MP