Editorial

Malta Enterprise, the corporation that is taking over the functions of three other bodies connected with manufacturing industry, comes just at a time when there is growing concern in the country over the proliferation of quangos.

Its setting up though has more to do with the real need to merge the functions of three inter-related bodies than to the equally important need to arrest the growth of quangos which, if left unchecked, can lead to further waste of resources.

At a time when the administration has to exercise much greater financial discipline than that shown in recent years, it would have been a step in the right direction had the setting up of Malta Enterprise been regarded as the start of an effort to cut down on the number of quangos.

Malta Enterprise has taken over the functions of three organisations - Malta Development Corporation, Malta External Trade Corporation and the Institute for the Promotion of Small Enterprise. The idea of amalgamating the three into one organisation fits in with the need to make the best possible use of available resources, without in any way jeopardising or reducing the importance of any of the activities previously done by the three organisations separately.

If the country is aiming to raise its level of efficiency, as indeed it must on quite a number of fronts, then it is important to ensure that we have the right supporting structures.

The MDC was one of the first institutions to be set up when the island began to build its industrial infrastructure at the start of the industrial development effort. In the drive to pave the way for development, other supporting structures were set up over the years.

The setting up of Malta Enterprise can now be regarded as another important phase in the development of the island's infrastructure in that we are now beginning to streamline our operational structures in a bid to become more efficient. This ought to be on-going process if the island is to move ahead, particularly now that we are joining the European Union.

Its first chairman, Joe Zammit Tabona, has said that the organisation was very focused on stepping up inward investment into Malta. He said: "It's a competitive world and we have to put our best foot forward to succeed... We have to be smart in the way we approach potential investors and must have something relevant to offer. Otherwise, we won't succeed".

What Mr Zammit Tabona said is a truism. The country now needs to seriously tackle matters that are not helping at all in the drive to attract new foreign direct investment, such as the high port rates and, according to successive MDC chairmen, unavailability of adequate factory space for immediate occupation.

If the country keeps raising costs to industry, our chances of taking a share of any of the foreign direct investment available will diminish. This too is a truism, but how many times have industry's representative bodies complained of the these obstacles and of lack of government action to remove them? For instance, when will the government look into the causes for the high port rates? Unless we start taking the bull by the horns, the situation can only get worse, which would do the economy no good at all.

If Malta Enterprise means what it says, then it should also act as a prime mover in the action that would need to be taken to remove obstacles to growth. But it must speak clearly and openly in order to get there.