Acting Prime Minister, Tonio Borg and Culture and Tourism Minister, Francis Zammit Dimech expressed their heartfelt recognition towards Foreign Minister, Michael Frendo after his Commonwealth secretary-general bid.
Dr Borg was speaking during a PN public dialogue meeting at the PN offices in Senglea.
Dr Frendo, who lost the contest for the position of Commonwealth general secretary last Saturday to India’s ambassador to Britain, Kamalesh Sharma, has given a great service to the country and has placed Malta in a very prominent position on the map, said Dr Borg
Malta can give a very beneficial contribution on an international level, whether this occurs in the European Union, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, or the Commonwealth, he added.
Talking about the Cottonera regeneration plan, Dr Borg said that the Santa Liena zone had to be completely rebuilt while the Vittoriosa Harbour area saw a rebirth with the opening of the yacht marina. A new sports complex and new schools have also been built in the area, he said.
He added that the development of the Xaqliba zone on the side of Valletta, generated new jobs, and then went on to mention that SmartCity in the Rinella area was expected to create around 5,600 jobs over eight years.
Tourism Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that it was necessary that the cruise liner terminal passage in Valletta should have more berths as it was not keeping up with the number of cruise liners visiting Malta. He said that the number of tourists visiting Malta on cruise liners had increased by 17 per cent in 2007 and for this reason, the Birgu Harbour also needed to have facilities for a cruise liner terminal passage.
Minister Francis Zammit Dimech said that there was a registered increase of 80,000 tourists from the beginning of this year until September over the same period of time last year. In all these tourists spent Lm20 million more than the previous year.
Passenger movements from October to November marked an increase of 16 per cent.
He said that this was a very positive result which marked a growth on growth increase for November this year compared to that of last year and the year 2005.
He emphasised that it was important for Malta to enhance and increase its tourist product and mentioned places of national heritage like the Caraffa stores in Vittoriosa which were dilapidated and the stores inside the Pinto wharf in Valletta which were found in a half- demolished state.
He said that amongst the suggested projects was that of the restoration of the fortifications of St Angelo. He said that these forts were an essential item in the list of national places of historical interest as they enrich Malta’s history.
Parliamentary secretary Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici, said that in 1998 the Cottonera committee had a difficult task in finding ways to regenerate the area.
He added that the development of SmartCity from Senglea to Marsascala was not only going to create new jobs but was also going to develop the area for better use of space, as the factories that previously occupied the area were carelessly constructed.
Speaking about Mater Dei hospital, Minister Tonio Borg said that the migration from St Luke’s to Mater Dei proceeded smoothly and that the government had not only invested in a state-of-the-art building but also in the most modern hospital equipment necessary.
The government invested up to Lm22 million in free medicines this year which now could be obtained from any local pharmacy and therefore people did not need to travel to the state hospital for them, he said.
Minister Borg also said that the government’s expenditure for post-secondary students’ stipends doubled. He praised former Maltese President Ugo Mifsud Bonnici for his vision to pay students in order to have people with more qualified positions.
Dr Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici said that the government had also invested in the courts and said that foreign lawyers and judges who visited the Maltese law court were quite impressed by how technologically well-updated the court websites were.
He said that with regards legal procedures there had been 720 amendments to 15 laws and in less than four years the number of pending cases decreased by 25 per cent.
Other court procedures taken into consideration by the government also included the official executive letters and he also said that 10,000 people had opted for this procedure
Minister Zammit Dimech said that Opposition Leader Alfred Sant had criticised the investment in low-cost carriers.
The minister said that there were eight new routes to and from Malta thanks to low-cost carriers and the number was expected to rise as the ministry was also in talks with a British airline and also with Vueling Airlines for a route to Madrid. He was also expecting important discussions in relation to British Airways which was taken over by Easy Jet.
He reminded those present that the government expenditure for the tourism sector had expanded to Lm10.5 million for 2008 and said that the PN party did not only have a vision but also had direction.
Speaking about the Malta Labour party’s development plan area, the minister said that there was no land which could be developed in the area and that he was therefore asking the MLP to specify and clarify what they intend to do with this area development plan.