Linked to the long and eventful history of the small island state, the achievements of Malta's high flying maritime industry remain invisible to the public. Transport minister Joe Mizzi stated that the public profile of Malta's maritime industry needs to be raised in order to ensure the future sustainability of the industry. This is quite something to consider, especially in view of the fact that Malta is presently the largest ship register in Europe and the sixth largest worldwide.
The minister acknowledged that Malta has seen consistent growth and success within this industry and not just in terms of its ship register but also with regards to continuous legislative adaptation as well as an increase in the number and quality of services offered. These factors combined have continued to attract and generate important business in the field, to the extent that the maritime industry is now crucial to the Maltese economy as a whole. Mr Mizzi also expressed that this positive scenario holds the potential to see Malta becoming one of the top maritime centres in the world.
However, as the minister added, prominent coverage is seldom given to these successes by the media. As a result, the public profile of Malta's maritime industry remains very low and this may affect the industry negatively in the future. According to the minister, the future of the industry lies in offering the appropriate training and skills to match the high demand.
Mr Mizzi's discourse fits perfectly well with Malta's current efforts at addressing the skills mismatch issue as presented in the National Reform Programme 2015 that was recently submitted by the ministry for finance. All this seems to propose that if Malta were to uphold its long-standing success in the maritime field whilst also managing to domestically improve its profile, the island would be looking to further establish itself at the forefront of this industry.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.
