Month: September 2021

The Chamber condemns the vile lack of humanity shown earlier today towards the foreign worker who was left on the side of the road following a construction accident.

The Malta Chamber has always advocated fair and equal treatment of all workers regardless of nationality across all sectors of the economy.

The Malta Chamber calls on all relevant stakeholders and authorities to immediately carve out a strategy to tackle this issue in a holistic manner.

The Maltese economy is highly diversified with many industries contributing positively and having sustainable growth potential, including construction if we focus on quality. The Malta Chamber re-iterates its stand that development and the construction industry must improve and evolve with full respect to Malta and Gozo’s heritage, history, culture, natural environment and well-being.

The country urgently needs a holistic Master Plan and revised local plans supported with clear policies which do not leave room for abusive exploitation in their interpretation and application. The ad hoc planning approach adopted over the years has uglified Malta, created uncertainty, excessive speculation and a non-level playing field between industry players as well as the general public.

A piecemeal approach to planning goes against the very spirit of planning itself. Development Brief changes, Partial Reviews and incongruent policy interpretation and application must stop. Instead effort must by placed on developing the must needed holistic Master Plan based on a well-studied carrying capacity exercise.

Our country’s success requires development to become sustainable, greener, cleaner and pleasant on the eye with full respect to saving our identity and to well-being. We need to move towards more regeneration, more restoration, applying different work methods, using new products and upskilling. This new way of doing development and construction will not only safeguard the employment and jobs of the current workforce but will also create endless new job opportunities.

“The Malta Chamber is a firm believer in the positive impact that sustainable and adequate pensions can have in addressing the issues related to enhancing sound and proper governance protocols for both a short term and a long term recovery,” said Dr Marthese Portelli, The Malta Chamber CEO, during a luncheon organised by STM Malta.

The event aimed at providing:
• a holistic overview of the pension system
• the importance of providing for a pension
• the key differences between a state and a private pension
• the benefits of employers offering an occupational pension scheme to its employees, and
• how one can better manage investment risk.

Addressing attendees, the Malta Chamber CEO noted the proactive efforts The Chamber is taking in championing sustainability with regards to pensions. Several recommendations were outlined which featured in the recently published pre-budget recommendations. These included allowing older employees entitled for a full pension at 61, to return to, or stay within employment, whilst also receiving a full pension and emphasising on the important role that supplementary pensions play in maintaining the future adequacy of pensions.

“Earlier this month we signed a Strategic Alliance Collaboration with STM Malta with the aim of raising awareness and tackling the issues related to the sustainability of the state pension while promoting Malta beyond our borders as a leading base for international cross-border pension provision,” explained Dr Portelli.

Deborah Schembri Managing Director & CEO of STM Malta Pension Services Limited stated that the key purpose of pension systems is to protect older people from poverty and to allow them to enjoy decent living standards and economic independence when ageing. Financial sustainability of pension schemes is the indispensable means to this end. She explained how “Supplementary pensions (other than state pensions) will need to play an ever greater role in maintaining the future adequacy of pensions, in particular where the adequacy of public pensions is expected to deteriorate. Education, tax and other financial incentives are an important part of the policy mix to develop occupational pensions.”

The event was attended by Minister Clyde Caruana, Minister Michael Farrugia and Hon David Agius.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry signed a Bronze Partnership agreement with Seed, aimed to enhance The Chamber’s policy influence with regards to sustainable tourism. To this end, Seed will be paired with the ‘Tourism Operators Business Section’ within The Malta Chamber’s Policy framework.

“As sustainability is one of the four main pillars of The Malta Chamber’s Economic Vision, The Malta Chamber is partnering with business champions that share the same values. Through this collaboration, The Malta Chamber will be better equipped to raise awareness and develop a high-level implementation plan by focusing on sustainable tourism practices with the aim of offering a quality experience to tourists visiting our islands,” said Ms Marisa Xuereb, President of The Malta Chamber.

Through this agreement, Seed will be supporting the ‘Tourism Operators Business Committee’ in the drawing up of a:
• Tourism Transformation Map to better understand the challenges and opportunities of the tourism sector by analysing both the local and international market;
• Transformation Index with the aim of compiling an annual index which can not only measure sectorial readiness, but also serve as a benchmark tool, together with an annual report to analyse this index in more detail.

“It is a great privilege for Seed to be associated with and sponsor The Malta Chamber. As a research-driven international advisory firm, Seed is very aligned to The Chamber’s mission, values and drive to be a transforming force. To this end, we will be supporting the Tourism Business Sub-Committee in its efforts to transform such an important pillar to Malta’s economy, and which suffered the brunt of the global pandemic. With the recovery in sight, together with The Chamber, Seed will be actively supporting the development of a vision for a revitalized and sustainable tourism sector,” said Mr JP Fabri, Director at Seed Business Advisory Ltd.

The agreement was signed by President Ms Marisa Xuereb and Deputy President, Mr Chris Vassallo Cesareo on behalf of the Malta Chamber and Mr JP Fabri for Seed. Mr Alan Arrigo, The Tourism Operators Business Section Chair, was also present during the signing.

Following reports in the press that health authorities are in advanced discussions with stakeholders for pharmacies to introduce a roster system to also start opening on Sunday afternoons, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry wishes to clarify that it has not been approached on the matter in recent months.

The last correspondence that the Chamber has had on the matter dates back to February 2020 and consists of a proposal made jointly with other stakeholders that provides for the enforcement of a roster for pharmacies to open on Sundays and Public Holidays, and for the service to be extended to a full day. No further communication on this proposal has been received since.

The Chamber, on behalf of its Lead Professional Pharmacists Business Section, urges the relevant authorities to consult with the relevant stakeholders before proceeding with implementation to ensure that the public is better served and that there is a level playing field between all pharmacies.

During a meeting between the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the Gozo Business Chamber both organisations noted that several of their members keep reporting that they are losing their employees to public sector jobs, even when the latter often carry less pay.

Both Chambers believe that whilst it is understandable that the public sector needs staffing at certain levels, it is also evident that there is overstaffing across various strata and in various Government departments and entities. It runs contrary to business competitiveness to have a situation where Government is indirectly soliciting human capital from the private sector.

Both organisations appeal to Government to curtail this practice as it will have long-term repercussions not only on the public sector wage bill, but also on the ability of the private sector to operate due to lack of human resources. This situation is already being experienced in many sectors.

The current economic circumstances warrant an independent review of public sector employment and resourcing to build a leaner but more efficient public administration, which only enhances those sectors which require resourcing.
The Malta Chamber and the Gozo Business Chamber propose that Government should look into the possibility of secondment of underemployed resources to the private sector.

They also insist that public sector recruitment of persons who are in full-time adequately paid employment with the private sector should, to the extent possible be avoided. Given the present circumstances this should be in the interest of economic recovery and the long-term sustainability of public finances.