Annual general meeting

The new era embarked on by the Malta Federation of Industry as a result of European Union membership was highlighted by Anton Borg, outgoing FOI president, when addressing the FOI's 59th annual general meeting, held recently at the FOI's new offices in Floriana.

Mr Borg said the FOI works along with confederations of industry and employers from all the other 24 EU member states. "The overall goal is to improve industry's position and its performance both in an EU context and a local one.

"To this extent, the FOI in Malta must continuously seek to improve the working relationship with Government aimed at improving industry's operating environment and enabling it to compete in a tough global market.

"Over the years, the federation never slackened its pressure on Government, constantly reminding it that the measures taken on the home front had to make sense if industrial investment is to be retained and further developed.

"In terms of awareness, the strategy has started to yield results both at a European level and in the local context. Competitiveness has become the top priority. Heads of government of EU member states have realised the peril of de-industrialisation if EU citizens are to continue enjoying the benefits that go with an inflow of foreign direct investment in a competitive industrial environment."

"For some years there was a mistaken view that the services industry would eventually supersede manufacturing industry... Time and again careful analysis has proved that a good proportion of service industry owed its existence to the gradual specialisation happening in the manufacturing sector, and evidence continues to show that the good fortunes of the services industry depend, in fact, on the manufacturing sector."

With reference to the discussions on the social pact, Mr Borg outlined the FOI's involvement in these "long and tiring negotiations" in which "Government and unions together with employer organisations were to agree on the priorities to inject new life into industry, and encourage further investment in the sector.

"Various measures were contemplated to improve the situation for industry's cost competitiveness. The FOI expected to see reductions in public sector spending and taxation levels, find new formulae for our social security systems that would be affordable, while establishing health, education and environment spending levels in relation to priority shortcomings that need to be addressed."

With these discussions failing to reach a consensus on various measures, Mr Borg appealed for the joint effort of Government, the trade unions and employer organisations to get the economy back on track.

Before concluding, Mr Borg reported on the developments at the Malta Business Foundation. He also explained the importance of the federation being located at its new premises to facilitate the expansion of services being introduced to members, including legal and industrial relations advisory services, as well as economic related services.