Today, Malta celebrates the 46th anniversary of Independence Day, the day when the country moved on from being led by foreigners to become solely responsible for its future.

So much water has passed from under the bridge since then. Sometimes this water was calm; sometimes it was rough.

When Prime Minister George Borg Olivier proudly held up the independence documents to show them to the large crowd that had gathered in Floriana, Malta knew that a tough road lay ahead. But we also knew that we could do it.

It was a time when unemployment was high, people were leaving the country in search of pastures new and the future looked bleak. But, through hard work, and our resilience as a nation that was so willing to succeed, slowly and surely we built the country as we know it today.

We have come a long way since then. To be sitting next to the European leaders and have the same rights and power as all of them – including Great Britain, our former rulers, which is perhaps why the British were initially so reluctant to support Malta’s bid to join the European Union – is already an achievement in itself.

Without independence, we would not have been able to decide our own fate, that is to become part of a growing force that is the European Union.

We had our tough times in these 46 years. We had obstacles that were hard to overcome. And we had difficult years that almost saw the country collapse. But we came through, and now we are reaping the benefits of the sacrifices that we made.

There are, of course, many challenges that lie ahead. In a highly competitive world, we must always be at our best to survive. What happened over the past two years or so – the financial crisis that hit the strongest of nations, let alone such a small country as ours – should remain as a reminder that even when things are going smoothly, there is still a risk that something could go wrong.

Thankfully, we did not suffer too much. Many other nations had much larger negative consequences. And, in spite of our small size, we did not feel the impact as others did.

We are still on the road to recovery. But as the economic wheel picks up – the recent results in the tourism sector are a clear indication that the worst is over and that we could look forward to brighter days – we must always keep in mind that each day is a battle for survival.

Each and every one of us must do his or her little bit. We do not have natural resources we can rely on. We have only our minds, our arms and our hearts to help us through. We must believe in our capabilities, we must learn from our mistakes and we must always work hard to maintain what we have achieved, and build upon it.

It is not easy, but experience tells us that we can do it.