Malta should be proud of what has been achieved so far, but it cannot rest on its laurels. There are difficult challenges ahead, and new ones will emerge. But we should not be afraid of facing these hurdles because we are confident that we are capable of overcoming them.
This, in a nutshell, is what Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi told Nationalist Party delegates during the party’s general council meeting held over the weekend.
Without Opposition Leader Alfred Sant harassing him on scandals and forcing him to reply to a string of accusations on mismanagement, as had happened during the live television debate last week, Dr Gonzi was in a more comfortable position to outline the government’s proposals for the country’s future.
The so-called Vision 2015 is based on the three pillars Dr Gonzi’s government has worked upon since Malta’s membership in the European Union became a reality – the environment, the economy and education. The intentions are to make Malta excel in six particular areas – health, ICT, financial services, tourism, the industrial sector and, of course, education, which remains the foundation on which our potential success could be built.
Whether we manage to achieve excellence in all remains to be seen, but having targets is already important for a country, because it shows where the government wants to take the country.
Dr Gonzi said that the first step towards the achievement of this vision will be the budget for 2008, which will be presented on Monday.
But, as he had done during his address at the PN’s Independence Day mass meeting on 20 September, Dr Gonzi focused heavily on the confidence the PN says it has in the people, insisting that the Maltese have always managed to do well in spite of the size of the country and its limitations.
His continuous reference to “the peak and the hole” to distinguish between what the PN has always aimed for and the doom and gloom approach of the Malta Labour Party must have struck a chord with the neutral voters who were watching the live broadcast of his speech on Net TV.
The “peak”, according to Dr Gonzi, is what the PN always targeted, be it European Union membership or the eurozone, while the “hole” is what the MLP wanted for the country, a Switzerland in the Mediterranean concept and the devaluation of the Maltese lira.
It is a known fact that Malta will always be at a disadvantage when it comes to compete with other bigger, stronger nations. We have no natural resources, we are a small island state and it has always been harder for us to succeed. But history has taught us that with commitment, dedication and hard work, this country can succeed, as it has done several times.
The Prime Minister has often referred to “challenges that should be turned into opportunities”. There are two options when one is faced with a challenge – one could either take the risk, believe in himself and go for it; or one could just sit back, let the chance pass and then live to regret it.
It is the same thing for a country.
What Dr Gonzi was strongly hinting at was that if Malta had not taken any risks in the past, and simply waited for things to happen, then it would not have joined the EU, it would not have managed to join the eurozone as it will do on 1 January, and it would not have attracted heavy foreign investment such as the one of SmartCity.
In other words, what Dr Gonzi once again expressed full confidence that the Maltese have the capability of taking on the challenges that the fast-moving world is making. It is up to all of us to give our best to take the country forward.