Education, in whatever manner and at every level, should be the mission around which all social forces of the country should unite to maximise our best and only resource which is people, Prime Minister and PN leader Dr Lawrence Gonzi said yesterday.

Speaking at a conference organised by the Nationalist Party on work and investment, Dr Gonzi said that Malta has huge potential and has all the ingredients to succeed at every level, even on an international stage. He maintained that education remains the key to this success and that everyone should do his or her utmost to reinvent the country based on this column.

“It is clear that the country is moving ahead and in the past week I have seen for myself the enormous success that several of our businessmen are embarking on. We visited companies such as Inspectra, Repro House, Crimson Wing and Lufthansa Technik which have all grown immensely ever since we joined the EU and I am truly astonished at the strong entrepreneurial spirit of the Maltese”.

The Prime Minister said that we should not lose our sense of optimism, adding that although our size may sometimes be a disadvantage, there were several times when our small size proved advantageous for us. He called on all social partners to continue to work together and transform the country through change.

“We have made substantial progress over the years by liberalising the market, relaxing financial controls and embarking on restructuring reforms at PBS and Malta Drydocks, among other projects. We privatised the airport and a major bank but much more still needs to be done and it is clear that the status quo is not an option.”

Dr Gonzi said that parents should encourage their children to continue studying after they reach the age of 16 and that they should also, as much as possible, choose to study in areas that are vital for the country’s growth. He said that the government changed the stipend system to reflect this new reality, which is fast and ever changing.

“There is a bright future ahead of us but this depends intrinsically on ourselves. We must move forward with conviction and persuasion so that the help we are getting from our membership in the EU will begin to bear the fruit for our and future generations”.

The conference was also addressed by a number of trade union officials, workers, businessmen and representatives from civil society.

FORUM spokesperson Victor Buttigieg said that this group of eight specialised unions now comprises 3,500 workers but is still not represented on the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development. He also called for the establishment of a Trade Union Council, further discussions on the aborted social pact and more investment in research and development “where we languish at bottom place from all EU-25 countries”.

General Workers Union president Salv Sammut said that while the government took the right decisions to build new terminals at Mgarr and Cirkewwa and for the construction of a new hospital, the way public funds were managed in both these projects left a lot to be desired. He said that although it was another good decision for the government to spend newly acquired EU funds on road building, these only lasted for 25 days instead of 25 years.

Mr Sammut called for the depoliticisation of issues that were in the interest of the workers and cited excessive bureaucracy and urgent reforms at the Malta Environment and Planning Authority as other issues which needed to be tackled urgently if the country was to move forward for the common good of all.

Dr Stefano Mallia said that after two years, it was now becoming ever clearer that EU membership was the best option for Malta. He said that the civil service was changing considerably in line with EU practices and that private sector investment had increased to record levels in the past two years.

Dr Simon Tortell said that the financial services sector was another market which had expanded considerably in the past years and a lot of financial institutions were now setting up in Malta due to the modern legal framework and strong administration experience that was prevalent.

He said that a large financial institution is expected to open shop in Malta in the coming months and that the amount of funds currently managed by Maltese based financial companies is now in excess of Lm2 billion.

Confederation of Malta Trade Unions president William Portelli said that we must understand the fact that workers are partners with businessmen to make the economy grow. He called for the EU funds brought to Malta to be invested in sound projects and for the re-opening of discussions which may finally bring about a new social pact.

Union Haddiema Maghqudin president Gejtu Tanti said that investment is crucial for the creation of jobs so that our quality of life would continue to increase. He said that Malta needs to have four per cent GDP growth every year for 20 years if we are to reach EU standards of living.

Mr Tanti also commented on the MCESD’s operation, hinting that reforms on the way this body operates need to be finalised. He also said that no hidden agendas should undermine the MCESD’s operation.

Managing Director of IT company 6pm Ivan Bartolo revealed that his company was currently in discussions to win a contract that could bring in work for between 500 and 700 IT specialists due to the high quality work that the company carries out. He said that most of his employees earn in the region of 25K per annum and that the company does its utmost to market Malta to the top IT executives across the world.

Mr Bartolo said that ‘attitude is a question of attitude’, reinforcing theme of a positive outlook for the future as what is happening at 6pm.