Author: SME Chamber

Provisional
data for international trade show that the trade deficit in January stood at €92.7
million, down by €19.6 million when compared to the corresponding month in
2013.

Increases
were recorded for both imports and exports by €20.8 million and €40.3 million
respectively. The increase in the value of imports was primarily due to mineral
fuels, lubricants and related materials, while other increases were recorded
for semi manufactured goods, chemicals, together with animal and vegetable oils
and fats. Mineral fuels, lubricants and related materials accounted for the
main increase in exports. Other increases were recorded for chemicals,
semi-manufactured goods, as well as beverages and tobacco

During
January, imports from the European Union accounted for 42.2 per cent of total
Imports. An increase was registered in imports from the United Kingdom, while
decreases were recorded from Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and
Belgium. Exports to the euro area showed a decrease, mainly to the Netherlands,
France, and Italy.

Other
decreases in exports were recorded to China, the United Kingdom, India,
Switzerland, Russia, and the Republic of Korea. On the other hand there were
increases in exports to the United States of America, Libya, Germany, Saudi
Arabia, Spain and Belgium.

A new
apprenticeship for Renewable Energy Systems Technicians is going to be launched
this year. The candidates who joined this course (MCAST Diploma in Green Energy
Technologies- Level 4) in October 2013 are currently in their full-time year at
MCAST and they would shortly be eligible to apply for a 2 year apprenticeship
scheme.

Circa 10
students are eligible to join the apprenticeship and those who find an employer
who can support their on-the-job training would be eligible to start their placement
as from 1st July 2014. The period from July till the end of September is
referred to as the observation period whereby the apprentice attends for
on-the-job training at a place of work at no cost to the employer. This period
is intended to assist both the employer and the apprentice make up their mind
whether they are to proceed with the apprenticeship placement.

GRTU and
ETC are thus in the process of assisting these prospective apprentices in
finding a suitable training placement. Employers who are interested in
recruiting apprentice/s in this field are kindly requested to get in touch with
us. 

Those
employers who express their interest in employing an apprentice will receive
the list of apprentices from ETC on the 1st week of June. Candidates who are
selected by an employer can start their work placement as from the 1st of July
as explained above.

During a
seminar addressed by the Hon Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, the Hon Minister for
Education and Employment Evarist Bartolo and Clyde Caruana, Chair of the Active
Labour Market Policy Counseling and Action Committee, it was announced that 730
placements have been secured through the collaboration of 83 enterprises.

These
enterprises come from a variety of sectors including electronic, manufacturing,
igaming, financial services and retail. The majority of these placements
require a level 4 qualification and some of them require a level 3
qualification but very few require a low level of skills. This goes to show that
there is a great demand for skilled workers in the private sector.

The
Minister thanked many times all those present for the support they are giving
both as business man and as social partners as he said without them this could
not be possible. He continued saying that the government intended to continue
working close to social partners and the private sector to make these
initiatives a success. In fact it was mentioned that in Budget 2014 Government
not only introduced incentives for the unemployed, apprentices, etc.. but also
for the employers that opened their business to they.

The new
schemes will help address our county's challenges of high percentage of low
skilled individuals and high percentage of early school leavers. It was
mentioned that only 44.5% of our 5th formers obtain the 5 sec exams and 25%
don't obtain any kind of examination. Government has also started working with
the inactive youths that have not yet completed their secondary education but
were not attending school to offer them an alternative education and training
option. Out of these 353, 200 have been included  in this new programme.

The
speakers also spoke of teaching work ethics at school and teaching them that
every employment can be a career. They also spoke not only of an employability
index but also checking courses against an employability audit.

GRTU
acknowledged the fact that the skills mismatch between education and employment
is large and statistics show that this gap we have been feeling on the ground
is indeed present and hindering our enterprises. GRTU also welcomed
Government's approach in working closely with stakeholders which if maintained
will lead to a successful outcome for all. GRTU also reiterated its commitment
to this project and its readiness to collaborate for the benefit of our
members.

During an MCESD
meeting where Social Partners discussed the Public Service Reform with Mario
Galea, Principal Permanent Secretary, GRTU Deputy President Philip Fenech
called for more centralization when it comes to the licensing a business
requires to operate.

Mr Fenech gave the example of a restaurant that is seeking
to have tables and chairs outside. He emphasized that the process is very
tedious and lengthy, if they manage to ever get the green light as they have to
deal with about 4 different authorities.

Mr Galea
said that they are working on this and in addition they are introducing the
concept of a public service that goes to the customer. This includes the area
of social services where the public sector will be contacting those eligible
and help them access their rights so as to ensure they have access to what is
due to them immediately when it is due.

GRTU has
welcomed Government's efforts to find solutions and put in place a system that
allows Housing Authority dwellings to install PV systems so that these families
too may benefit from renewable energy. GRTU is currently in talks with the
relevant Authorities to find solutions for those families who live in
apartments and as such have no roof where they could place their own PV
systems. We expect talks to be concluded soon.

When we
see the latest EU statistics released yesterday by Eurostat we cannot help but
think that something wrong is being done when it comes to renewable energy. We
might not be aggressive enough in the country's policy, we might be limiting
our focus and disregarding the idea of technological innovation suited for our
country, maybe we are not exploiting our country's resource potential well
enough, but what we are certainly doing is not taking it seriously enough. In
eight years, since 2004, Malta has gone from 0.3% to 1.4% in 2012 of share of
energy from renewable sources. The ultimate target Malta should reach by 2020
is 10% but it seems to have become an accepted fact that Malta will not reach this
target. We expect some kind of genuine explanation for this and know if a plan
in the meantime since 2012 has been put in place to address the situation.

One
should not expect Malta to be a leader in this. Malta's target of 10% is in
fact the lowest amongst the Member States. What is worrying is that Malta is
amongst the Member States with the largest gap in achieving the target and when
one looks at the progress made from 2004 till 2012 it is evident that the
absolute majority of Member States have picked up pace and are quickly closing
the gap but Malta's progress has been very slow.

GRTU
however strongly feels that we have to think outside the box and our policy has
to become more aggressive but also wiser. Incentives for the private sector for
investment in renewable energy systems need to move much faster both in terms
of schemes and feed in tariffs. Government should give clear guidance where
investments in RES are needed by the private sector as right now the guidance
it is giving is very limited and will not get us very far in coming closer to
our target. More funds should be made available and easily accessible for
Research, Innovation and Development to develop technologies that target the
resources Malta has available and to adapt technologies that work very well in
other countries to the Maltese context.

Past and
recent experience in the RES sector shows that when Government issues
guidelines the private sector is fast to address it and the earmarked potential
is fully achieved. What we need is a multi-technology approach and the private
sector is ready to invest in innovative solutions but if guidance and will from
the policy makers is missing all the investment will be devoted to a very
limited area.

Malta is
also amongst the Member States with the highest electricity prices, even more
so when it comes to commercial users, which impinges heavily on the country's
competitiveness. We can no longer afford to lay back and watch the gap widen.

GRTU Malta
Chamber of SMEs expresses its satisfaction that the last call of the Employment
Aid Programme (EAP) targeting Gozo was successfully taken up by Gozitan
Enterprises. The EAP is a scheme made available through the European Union
Social Funds which has in the past been very successful in creating employment
opportunities within enterprises through a part financial reimbursement
incentive.

In fact
Government is earmarking that through the Gozo call enterprises will be
creating 357 jobs, 46 of these individuals being on the employment register and
198 inactive. GRTU had heavily advertised the scheme with its Gozitan members
and encouraged them to apply. We are now pleased therefore that this joint
effort between the authorities, SME representatives and the enterprises
themselves, has so far been successful.

GRTU
also welcomes the fact that through the successful uptake of the scheme Malta
has reached its 10% target of EU funds allocated to Gozo.

In the
past unfortunately enterprises have experienced a number of bureaucratic
burdens and delays through this scheme, especially when they arrived to the
point of claiming the grant through reimbursement and being actually awarded
the reimbursement. We are however aware that Gozo scheme has been simplified
and processes have been streamlined to bring the administrative burden to a
minimum. We therefore hope that if 357 jobs will be created, the number of
reimbursements given to enterprises will be very close to this number.

GRTU
finally welcomes Parliamentary Secretary Ian Borg's assurance that there will
be once again similar schemes opening not only for Gozo but also for Malta
under the next funding period. GRTU is in constant insistence with Government
that this should take place in the very near future. At that point GRTU hopes
we would have learnt from past experiences and administer such schemes in a
less bureaucratic manner and also split the reimbursement so that employers
would not have to wait till the very end to acquire the funds.

GRTU President
Paul Abela last week accompanied the President of Malta George Abela and the
Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Businesses Chris Cardona in an
official visit to Germany.

During the visit meetings were held with the German
Federal Association for Economic Development and Foreign Trade and with the
German Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The
Maltese Delegation spoke about the positive economic results Malta is achieving
with the aim of attracting more foreign direct investment to Malta.

On the
other hand the President of Germany, Joachim Gauck, described Malta as a model
of economic and social development for other countries.

Malta
has close ties with Germany in a diverse number of sectors and many German
products and quite sought after by Maltese consumers. German investors and
businesses find in Malta an efficient infrastructure, attractive conditions and
a qualified and hard working workforce.

Germany
is one of Malta's greatest commercial partners. Around 70 companies having
German interest operate in various sectors such as manufacturing and aviation
amongst others. 

Nhar il-Gimgha li ghadda ufficjali tal-GRTU ipprezentaw il-veduti tal-GRTU u tal-membri taghha
direttament waqt konferenza stampa lill-Hon Jose Herrera, Segretarju
Parlamentari ghal Kultura u l-Gvern Lokali. Dawn wara li l-GRTU ghamlet
konsultazzjoni nterna fuq is-suggett permezz ta` email li ntbaghtet lill-membri
taghha. In-numru ta` risposti li rcevejna lura kienu bosta. Dawn iffurmaw
il-bazi li fuqhom il-GRTU bniet il-proposta taghha.

Il-GRTU
u l-membri taghha jilqghu din ir-riforma ghaliex ihossu li m'hawnx apprezzament
bizzejjed u rispett lejn in-nies li jkunu qeghdin isuqu fuq xoghol.
L-importanza li nissalvagwardjaw l-interess ta` min ikun ghaddej bid-deliveries
jew biex jaghti servizz hu kardinali, ghaliex il-livell ta` produttivita
tal-kumpaniji u l-professjonisti taghna bis-sitwazzjoni tat-traffiku kif qeghda
illum qieghed jinzel u qed tbaghti l-kompettitivita taghhom. Wara kollox
in-negozji z-zaghar huma l-mutur tal-ekonomija Maltija u ghandna nharsuhom.
Il-GRTU tara din ir-riforma bhala opportunita' li nindirizzaw dan in-nuqqas u
anke hawn naghtu lin-negozji r-red carpet treatmet li tant nishqu fuqu.

Inhossu
li l-Gvern bhala parti min din ir-riforma irid jaghmel sforz biex  jeduka lil kull min hu nvolut f'dan
ir-rigward anke lic-cittadin b'mod generali. Fit-toroq hemm nies li jiggieldu
mall-hin biex ilahhqu mall-guranta tax-xoghol taghhom u l-hin mitluf
fit-traffiku ghalihom hu prezzjuz hafna. Dawn in-negozji u ndividwi jistghu
jigu mghejjuna anke b'harsien ahjar tal-kodici tat-traffiku bhal per ezempju,
li s-sewqan isir fuq il-lemin u x-xellug tintuza biss biex wiehed jaqla
b'osservazzjoni ta` speed limit minimu biex ma jigux ikkrejati ostakli f'toroq
li jkun hemm lane wahda.

Il-GRTU
dejjem sahqet li xoghol l-Gwardjani Lokali ma jibdiex u jispicca b'ghoti ta`
multi izda huwa mportant li dawn ukoll ikollom rwol edukattiv. L-ezistenza
tal-Gwardjani Lokali ghandha twassal ghal titjib fil-livell ta` gharfien u
aktar harsien tar-regoli mis-sewwieqa taghna. Meta qeghdin insemmu nedukaw
l-ghan ewlieni hu li dak s-sewwieq li jitwaqqaf minhabba kwistjoni ta` bozoz
tal-vettura mhux jahdmu, dan ghandu jinghata cans, xorta wahda jigi registrat
ghan nuggas tieghu u jitharrek jekk jerga jinqabad. Il-Gwardjani Lokali
ghandhom ukoll juru atitudni mhux severa mall-first time offenders u bl-istess
mod ikunu aktar severi mall-frequent offenders.

Il-Gwardjani
Lokali ghandhom ikunu aktar prattici u jifhmu lis-sewwieqa fil-kuntest ta`
sewqan fit-traffiku u fit-toroq ta` Malta. Dan ma jfissirx li kullhadd jaghmel
li jrid pero b'livell ghola ta` prattika u flessibilta` s-sistema ta' infurzar
fil-lokalita` tibda tgawdi min aktar rispett.

Ezempju
wiehed li hafna mill-membri taghna igergru fuqu hu, li l-Gwardjan Lokali ghandu
jifhem aktar d-delivery persons fejn f'hafna drabi ma jkunux jistghu jieqfu
f'parking bay propja sabiex iwassal oggetti li gieli ikunu tqal jew bulky
minghajr ma jkollu jipparkja  metri
l-boghod mid-destinazzjoni. Il-Gwardjan Lokali ghandu wkoll jara li
l-unloading/loading bays qeghdin jigu wzati kif suppost u mhux l-gurnata kollha
okkupati min vetturi li m'ghandhomx x'jaqsmu assolutament xejn ma hadt ta'
xoghol. Il-GRTU issostni li fejn wiehed ma jkunx qed johloq inkonvinjenza jew
ikun ta' ostakolu fejn  it-traffiku jigi
affetwat ghandu jithalla jipparkja ghal dawk il-ftit minuti mehtiega.

Il-GRTU
pero ssostni wkoll li jridu jsiru diskussjonijiet kostruttivi biex tinstab
soluzzoni ghal provizzjoni ta` unloading/loading bays jew alternattivi ohra.
Wiehed irid ukoll izomm f'mohhu li illum il-gurnata d-deliveries ma jsirux biss
permezz ta` trakkijiet/vannijiet ghaldaqstant jista jinhareg permess specjali
ghal dawk l-impjegati jew vetturi li xogholhom hu fit-triq iqassmu x-xoghol.
Din is-sistema tista` tigi applikata ghal individwi u bzonnijiet ohra fejn dawn
ikunu jistghu jieqfu biss ftit minuti sakemm jaghmlu dak li hemm bzonn.

Punt
iehor importanti sabiex din ir-riforma tkun ta` success hu li l-atitudni ta`
min qed jinforza l-Ligi ghandha tkun wahda edukattiva u amikevoli.
Sfortunatament illum il-gurnata n-nies ghandhom percezzjoni hazina
tal-Gwardjani Lokali u din ir-riforma trid tindirizza wkoll din il-percezzjoni.
Min qed jinforza ghandu jinghata tahrig sabiex jghinu jikkomunika b'mod
effettiv bla ma  jurtha lil-dak li jkun.

Il-GRTU
hi ukoll favur l-introduzzjoni ta` incentivi li jwasslu ghal car pooling bejn
l-impjegati u skemi ohra li kumpaniji jisghu jaddottaw kemm ghall impjegati kif
ukoll ghal klijenti taghhom. Ghandu jsir manteniment kontinwu ta` certu ghodda
ghall-kontroll tat-traffiku bhal sleeping policeman ghaliex hemm minnhom li
huma gholjin wisq u mhux immarkati tajjeb u jistghu jikkawzaw hsara lil
vetturi. Ghandha tigi imnedija hotline u pjattaforma online fejn wiehed ikun
jista` jirraporta trasgressjonijiet u problemi ohra li sewwieqa jiltaqghu maghhom.
Ir-respons ghal dawn ir-rapporti ghandhom ikunu immedjati.

Il-GRTU
thoss li l-pubbliku ukoll ghandu jigi edukat permezz ta` uzu tal-media
differenti u ghandu ikun infurmat tajjeb x'inhu l-irwol tal-Gwardjan Lokali u
dak tal-Puluzija tat-Traffiku.

Il-GRTU
tispera li jekk is-sehem tal-privat fit-tmexxija ta' din is-sistema ser
jitnaqqas ma jmurx lura minflok il-quddiem. It-tmexxija tal-Gwardjani Lokali
ghandha tibqa wahda serja. L-Ahhar izda u mhux l-inqas, il-Gwardjani Lokali
m'ghandhomx ikollhom il-paga marbuta man-numru ta` citazzjonijiet li jinghataw.