Last Updated on Thursday, 21 May, 2020 at 1:55 pm by Andre Camilleri
“The country is anxious to take advantage of the opportunities brought about by the disruption of the current COVID-19 crisis, and grow”, said the President of The Malta Chamber Perit David Xuereb today.
‘Weathering the storm is not enough at this point. We must look at this time as an opportunity, and look beyond the fog of the crisis, and see how we can turn this situation in our favour, and ultimately increase our country’s competitiveness as a result. The end goal and everyone’s ambition is to truly make a success of the new norm’.
Perit Xuereb was addressing an online press conference that presented a set of measures titled ‘Making a Success of the New Norm’, which were proposed to Government in the past days, aimed at helping businesses grow.
President Xuereb noted that all considerations of physical and mental health needed to be given utmost importance, as the Chamber was not lobbying for the opening of the economy at all costs and in a careless manner. All decisions needed to be taken in a logical and structured way, based on scientific evidence.
However, the country needed to incentivise creative thinking in order to move out of the state of emergency and start growing afresh.
Mr Xuereb noted how the Chamber had in the past weeks taken a leadership role in this regard and through a Think Tank it established, it was working closely with some 130 entrepreneur members of the Malta Chamber, each experts in their specific fields covering all of the country’s economy, to better understand how the economy can be jumpstarted into action in a safe and creative manner.
The measures which were presented by the Malta Chamber in support of the Think Tank, provided concrete proposals on how Government was urged to address determinate subjects such as meeting liquidity needs, mobilising labour supply, incentivising business activity, jumpstarting the economy, a shift in mindset and finally stimulating innovation.
‘It is evident that the current situation is expected to take longer than we all wish for. Waiting for the storm to be over is not an option. While observing all sanitary and social distancing rules, we must continue to exercise utmost discipline and respect towards each other, and start building a new successful chapter of our country’s history together’ Perit Xuereb concluded.
