Author: Developers Think

The Malta Chamber urges the health authorities to rethink the existing quarantine measures which should be focused on a risk-based approach for fully vaccinated people.

As over 81% of the adult population in Malta is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and a growing body of scientific evidence suggests that fully vaccinated people are less likely to carry asymptomatic infection or transmit the virus to others, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry believes that it is totally unreasonable to put these people under a mandatory 14-day quarantine when they are secondary contacts of confirmed cases. Employers are ending up bearing the brunt of all this, especially where people cannot work from home.
The Malta Chamber is aware of entire households of fully vaccinated people which have been put into 14-day mandatory quarantine because one of their children who has already taken the first jab attends a summer school programme where a child has tested positive. This is most unreasonable.

“If we really believe that vaccines break the chain of contagion, we need to be pragmatic and shouldn’t be placing fully vaccinated secondary contacts in quarantine,” said Ms Marisa Xuereb, President of The Malta Chamber.

Furthermore, quarantine letters are being issued to all members of a household without specifying personal Identification. Clearly, no checks are being made on whether the members of that household are vaccinated or not.

The Malta Chamber is seriously concerned with this situation, which is greatly reducing the productive capacity of business operators. On the one hand employers are being asked to encourage their employees to get vaccinated when on the other hand the authorities are not treating fully vaccinated employees any differently from those who are still refusing to be vaccinated.

The Malta Chamber urges authorities not to take unreasonable decisions and knee-jerk reactions. According to the rolling 7-day average issued by the Health Authorities, the daily new hospital admissions for COVID-19 remains below 0.8% of the total active cases.

The Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) and the Malta Chamber organised an Education-Industry Colloquium to discuss skill needs in the coming years. The forum entitled Foresight 2030: Resetting Education and Skills in a post-COVID period aimed to stir a pro-active discussion on anticipating the skills for the future to ensure a thriving industry with a highly-skilled workforce.

The discussion also centred around recent data showing that 50% of all employees will need reskilling by 2025, as adoption of technology increases and around 40% of workers acknowledge that they require reskilling of six months or less. The panel speakers representing different sectors and over seventy participants were encouraged to propose forward-looking actions and collaborative measures to address the situation in Malta.

Minister for Education Justyne Caruana said, “The Government will continue to ensure that the education sector, in particular MCAST, is geared up to anticipate the challenges that the country faces. We need to lead the vision of the skills required for current and future jobs in Malta. In the aftermath of the disruptive COVID-19 period, more regular dialogue with various stakeholders is necessary so that we can take immediate effective action.”

Malta Chamber President Ms Marisa Xuereb said, “We urge the industry to do its part and engage from the start of our student’s educational journey. To bridge the gap between MCAST and the industry, we must identify the shortages and needs of the industry. Thus, educational courses must ensure that these gaps are addressed and actioned upon. We should prioritise the educational experience through the involvement of business leaders to provide a more practical experience.”

MCAST Principal and CEO Professor Joachim James Calleja emphasised the importance of synergising the efforts of the education and the business sectors. “We need industry on campus, and we also need the College and its people to be in industry as frequently as possible. MCAST has recently concluded an extensive public consultation about its second Strategic Plan covering 2022-2027. We want to achieve more visibility of different scenarios that can affect the provision of education and training. Students need to be aware of the learning and work opportunities even when they are in secondary school.”

This week, The Malta Chamber’s Sustainable Mobility committee agreed on a pathway towards the electrification of the vehicle fleet. In view of the proposed national cut-off date for Malta to phase out fossil fuel vehicles, The Malta Chamber is emphasizing the need for an electric vehicle masterplan for the country to achieve its sustainability goals in a timely and ambitious manner.

Such a needed masterplan would extend to all sectors of the economy which would be affected by this change, and must therefore be underpinned by extensive stakeholder engagement.

The Malta Chamber urges government to hit the ground running in preparing for this transition. Aside from planning for charging infrastructure, which may in part be paired with adequate parking, The Malta Chamber is bringing to Government’s attention the need to train people for the maintenance and repairs of electric vehicles, amongst other key skillsets.

The Civil Protection Department must likewise be equipped, upskilled and given the proper know-how to be able to intervene in accidents involving electric vehicles. The far-reaching impact of the electrification of the vehicle fleet will require extensive communication and information dissemination from government to stakeholders and society at large, ensuring that all are well equipped to meet their obligations and commitments, and are likewise positioned to benefit as much as possible from the transition.

While the path ahead will present many challenges, the electrification of the vehicle fleet offers increased quality of life, cleaner air and new economic opportunities. Handled correctly, it will position Malta as a pioneer and a leader. As a microstate and island-nation, Malta is well positioned to be one of the main success stories of this new chapter in mobility.

The Malta Chamber’s Sustainable Mobility committee, which brings key industry leaders around the table, will continue to play its part to facilitate the successful electrification of the country’s vehicle fleet, in close collaboration with government and all stakeholders.

During a panel discussion at a seminar organised by the Ministry for the Economy and Industry together with MIMCOL, Dr Marthese Portelli, CEO of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry weighed in on the importance of sustainable economic growth for a future-proof Malta.

Addressing attendees during the ‘Malta’s Economic Vision 2021 – 2031 National Consultation for Pillar 1 – Sustainable Economic Growth’, Dr Portelli noted that the Vision reflects and is in sync with The Malta Chamber’s Smart & Sustainability document and Think Tank proposals. “The Vision’s thought process is holistic and positive, particularly the drive towards innovation over quick fixes. The Malta Chamber reiterates the importance of coherence throughout and across government ministries, authorities and departments. The secret of the Vision’s success depends on effective implementation and therefore it is crucial to develop it together with industry and business stakeholders.” said the CEO.

Dr Portelli highlighted 9 key action points that must be prioritised for a sustainable way forward:

1. Targets must be realistic.

2. Address our export propensity from an island microstate perspective, particularly by addressing our insular economic hurdles even at European and international fora.

3. Ensure continuous dialogue with business stakeholders to avoid knee jerk reactions which disrupt business stability.

4. Bottom-up tailor-made incentives per industry which are designed effectively to address the sector’s requirements, rather than a one-size-fits-all.

5. Identify industries that generate real value added towards our country and help them to proliferate.

6. Give due recognition to industries and businesses that contribute positively towards attaining a sustainable environment and promote their corporate best practices for wider uptake.

7. Create required inhouse training schemes to address the issue of industry and skills availability mismatch.

8. Better awareness of industry career opportunities during career guidance campaigns. This is crucial for industries to grow and expand as it will provide qualitative employment prospects and also serve to bridge the industry needs with educational readiness.

9. Ensuring that everyone has digital knowledge, digital literacy and analytical competence which goes beyond basic skills and basic use. We need to move towards data-powered enterprise that will help scale new business and reimagine consumer engagement models.

Dr Portelli concluded by saying that as a nation the country is at a very important juncture and called for political maturity in politics. “Political Maturity is not just desirable – it is vital. Beyond mere words, we need to see it actually happening and being put into practice.”

Yesterday (14 July), the European Commission published the Fit-for 55 package, the legislative tool to deliver on the European Green Deal, and more specifically to meet the objective of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. The package includes several legislative proposals, some of which are new, such as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, and others revising existing legislations, such as the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Directives, the Energy Tax Directive, and the Emissions Trading Scheme.

These legislations will surely impact businesses and consumers, whether directly or indirectly. It is accepted that the status quo is not sustainable. The MBB consistently said that the question is not if we should meet ambitious climate targets, but how to achieve this without undermining the competitiveness of business, particularly SMEs, and those operating in the periphery of the EU. One also needs to ensure that EU measures are done in line with international rules to avoid retaliation by other global competitors that would interpret EU unilateral measures as discriminatory towards them.

MBB President Alison Mizzi welcomed the Fit-for 55 package, stating that “This is the EU’s commitment to lead the global fight against climate change. However, it is equally important that Europe leads the way while ensuring that it does not do this on its own. We need to ensure a collective effort to avoid unfair competition and the risk of carbon leakage.”

Ms. Mizzi also emphasized that “This regulatory package needs to enable other frameworks adopted by the EU to support the transition towards a green and digital economy. EU Funding Instruments, including Cohesion Policy and the Recovery and Resilience Fund are important funding tools providing the enabling conditions for business to undertake investment contributing towards a Greener Europe. The path towards a Greener Europe is expected to contribute towards new investments and the creation of new green jobs.”

The MBB however cautioned that the Fit-for 55 package, or certain elements of it, should not undermine individual member states and specific sectors that are strategic to the economy. For instance, while incentivizing clean energy for the transport sector is a good policy approach, the impact of taxing kerosene for aviation and maritime sectors over the next decade needs to be studied in detail to quantify the impact in the context of the current economic scenario as well as the impact on peripheral countries such as Malta and other island states or regions that are entirely dependent on these two sectors for the export and import of all cargo as well as tourism activity.

The MBB will be analysing this EU legislative package and discuss with the Maltese business community the challenges and opportunities it brings.

The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has signed a bronze collaboration alliance with Ganado Advocates.

To further this mission towards a ‘level playing field for all’, Ganado Advocates shall support the newly established ‘Procurement and Competition Committee’ with the aim of enhancing The Chamber’s work on public procurement while developing its competition policy. Furthermore, the leading commercial law firm will support in employment related matters through the HR and talent committee. Ahead of the signing, the President of The Malta Chamber, Ms Marisa Xuereb noted that The Chamber is constantly seeking to be Malta’s true voice of business by teaming up with national business champions.

“Policy representation has always been a major pillar of The Malta Chamber. Through this alliance with Ganado Advocates, The Chamber will be strengthening its policy-making capacity to remain a proactive player within Malta’s business sphere,” said Xuereb.

Commenting on the partnership, Dr Andre Zerafa, Managing Partner at Ganado Advocates, said “We are pleased to be collaborating with The Malta Chamber on this initiative. The firm aims to be of service to policymakers, supporting them in the formulation of nation-wide strategies across a wide spectrum of business sectors and economic activity, including public procurement. We’re confident that, through this collaboration, we will be in a position to actively support the private-public alliance in Malta and beyond.”

In its mission to promote transparency and good governance practices, The Malta Chamber has collaborated with Ganado Advocates earlier this year by publishing ‘The Public Procurement Reform Report’ with 36 tangible recommendations.

The Bronze Collaboration Agreement was signed by Ms Marisa Xuereb and Mr Christopher Vassallo Cesareo as President and Deputy President of The Malta Chamber respectively, and Dr Andre Zerafa, Managing Partner of Ganado Advocates.

“The Malta Chamber is a strong believer in a hybrid model with regards to working from home. Due to the responsibilities present today, a degree of flexibility, whenever possible, is not only vital but is also an added perk to employees,” said Ms Fabianne Ruggier, Chair of the HR and Talent Committee at The Malta Chamber during an event organised by the Malta Business Bureau.

Ms Ruggier continued by noting that planning needs to be implemented in organising a sustainable hybrid model that provides a balance between the employees’ level of work and the employers’ expectations. Furthermore, companies also need to address the hybrid model from a structural point of view.

Ms Ruggier was part of a panel discussion during a three-part lunchtime live web series focusing on working from home and remote working organised by MBB.

When discussing the recent study carried out by MBB and economist Dr Marie Briguglio to assess the potential of working from home in Malta, Ms Ruggier explained that the right infrastructures need to be in place for this “new” work approach to be a true success.

“As Chair of the HR and Talent Thematic Committee at The Chamber, I strongly believe that companies need to invest in a robust and well-developed HR department with strong performance management process to truly embrace the hybrid work-from-home model,” said Ms Ruggier.

She concluded by noting that the emphasis should be on monitoring KPIs, rather than the time itself.

The HR and Talent Committee at The Malta Chamber is sponsored by RSM Malta.

A delegation from The Malta Chamber, led by President Ms Marisa Xuereb and CEO Dr Marthese Portelli, presented the recently launched document prepared by its Education Thematic Committee, ‘Education for the Future’ to Hon. Clyde Puli, Shadow Minister for Education & Sports.

During the meeting at The Malta Chamber, President Xuereb highlighted the three priorities in the said document.
• Vocational educational training
• Upskilling / reskilling
• Future of education

Ms Xuereb said that “the main aim behind the creation of the Education Thematic Committee was to bridge the gap between education and industry. By prioritising these three factors, we can ensure that the current and future workforces are prepared well enough by obtaining the right skills to address the employers’ and economy’s needs.”

In this context, the committee was set up to propose tangible measures to strengthen the alignment between educational curriculum and employer requirements while also serve as a catalyst to bring the necessary change that will benefit educational institutions, students and employers.

The document dwells on the importance of lifelong learning, having periodical curriculum reviews, developing and empowering educators, and introducing Social Emotional Learning and Service Learning for both students and teachers.

The Chairperson of the committee is Ms Claudine Attard, the Vice Chairperson is Christopher Bezzina while the members are Ms Mariella Galea, Mr Stephan Vella, Dr Nadia Maria Vassallo, Ms Fiona Captur, Mr Antonello Cappitta. The coordinator of the committee is Ms Julia Aquilina.