EY's country managing partner for Malta, Ronald Attard, stated that this year's results demonstrate a "genuine opportunity" for how Malta could proceed economically in the future.

This year's EY attractiveness survey showed that investor confidence has increased to 81%, among other in-depth analyses of the state of Malta's economy, as well as investors' perceptions of the country and its business environment.

Attard stated that while Malta, as a small country, can never compete with larger countries on scale, "we can compete on trust, predictability, talent and agility, and position ourselves as a European jurisdiction where responsible innovation and technological ambition reinforce one another, and where data sovereignty forms part of a credible competitive proposition."

Looking to the future, he noted that in an increasingly fragmented world, Malta's agility as a small island nation in the European Union, coupled with its resilience to foreign shocks, could serve as an advantage.

However, he warned for insulation not to be mistaken for immunity. Attard said, "Protection of this kind is not everlasting, because there is a cost to everything. Every measure that shields households and businesses from volatility in energy, food or shipping is paid for somewhere."

"The question is not whether Malta has been resilient so far. It is whether the way we have achieved that resilience can be sustained, and whether we are using this period of relative calm to build the buffers we may need tomorrow," he said.

Attard said that planning ahead through a long-term national plan does not limit ambition, but rather, "it is about protecting it, so that today's success does not become tomorrow's constraint."

Attard spoke about how Malta evolved from a new EU Member State in 2005, with a population of around 400,000 people and 1.2 million annual tourists, to a country of some 450,000 people a decade later, in 2015, to today - Malta has "close to 600,000 people" and is on track for another record in annual tourist arrivals.

He said that today, Malta is both a success story and one of infrastructural pressures being experienced every day.

Attard added that while this year's results are ultimately positive, the task now is to bring the same foresight of its strong telecommunications infrastructure into its people, energy, water, transport, and public services.

"Whether it shows an island stretched beyond its means, or a small country that used its success wisely, will depend far less on events beyond our shores than on the choices we make in the next few years," Attard said.

He concluded by telling those in attendance that, in his view, Malta can make the right choices along the next few years - "not because we are large, but because we are small."