Education and Employment Minister Louis Galea and Foreign Minister Michael Frendo urged society, non-governmental organisations, institutions and individuals to exploit European Union funds made available in the education and training sectors.

They were speaking at a seminar organised by the Foreign Ministry’s Forum Malta fl-Ewropa.

Malta was running an obstacle race in this sector, Dr Galea said, and the aim should be to win first place. The EU put huge amounts at the disposal of member states and although to date Malta had used the money voted for it, there were millions in funds which were left unused by some countries.

The education system was being reformed with the government committing itself to work to ensure that all Maltese children were successful. This meant that substantial changes were needed in the way we operated so that no one left the education system without the necessary skills to join tomorrow’s world of work.

One of the government’s priorities was to make Malta a centre of excellence in education by 2015, and this was achievable. The country could either do this by itself or it could use funds and resources provided by the EU. The private sector could also benefit from these funds, Dr Galea said.

Dr Frendo said Forum Malta fl-Ewropa was for Malta the EU’s voice and it was one of its main functions to inform everyone about the opportunities in the EU, including the funds being made available and how these could be used.

With its only resource being its people, Malta needed to exploit the education sector economically by turning into a centre of excellence in education and training. The forum was playing its role in achieving this. The forum, Dr Frendo said, had trained people who could identify the funds which existed and help NGOs and others to use this money.