Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/480415
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 18 MARCH 2015 8 News MIRIAM DALLI PRIME Minister Joseph Muscat will be one of several key speakers in a forum on residence and citizen- ship planning organised by Henley & Partners, the concessionaires of Malta's sale of passports. The forum will be held in Zurich on 5-6 May and includes Nevis Pre- mier Vance Amory, UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner T. Alexander Aleinikoff, IMF deputy division chief, Judith Gold, UK head of Bor- der Security Graham Zebedee, and Swiss head of tax department Mari- anne Nufer as key speaker. This is not the first time that Mus- cat has been asked to address Henley conferences: he has so far addressed audiences in London, New York, Mi- ami and Singapore on Henley-spon- sored conferences in which he ad- vocated Malta's citizenship sale as a way of "attracting talent"... as well as €650,000 in cash, an added €150,000 investment in financial instruments, and €350,000 in property or an an- nual €16,000 in rent over the course of five years. The concessionaires oblige the Maltese government to provide its top brass to promote the Individual Investor Programme. "The govern- ment will ensure to send, whenever requested by the concessionaire, appropriate high-ranking govern- ment representatives, or other sen- ior government officials, to speak at the events and represent the Pro- gramme and the government," the contract reads. Malta's individual investor pro- gramme – "setting a new global standard" – will be one of the May forum's highlights. "Designed to shine the spotlight on key developments in the field, the Forum's programme includes ad- dresses from, and panel discussions with, top tier international service providers and senior government officials" such as Prime Minister Joseph Muscat, Henley said. Henley & Partners CEO Eric Major said: "As the field of resi- dence and citizenship planning is expanding at a rapid pace, it is be- coming increasingly important to stay abreast of trends and chang- es. More importantly perhaps, is building a trusted network with the leading lights in the industry. This is what we have endeavoured to cre- ate with our events, a platform to do just that." THE pro-hunting lobby has main- tained that making use of a spring hunting derogation is within Malta's right as an EU member state. At a news conference in Birgu, the IVA campaign outlined the EU's treatment of the issue of spring hunt- ing. Of 5,000 derogations from the Birds Directive, some 800 concern spring hunting, including recreational hunt- ing. In Malta's case, representatives said, the derogation is applied for a number of reasons, namely that there is no satisfactory alternative, a small number of kills, strict surveillance and control, judicious use of the ani- mals killed and the use of a selective method of hunting, as outlined in Article 9.1c of the Directive. Giving the UK as an example, 17 species of birds are fair game during spring while hunters there are al- lowed to hunt day and night, all year round. IVA campaigners argued that in other EU countries, where com- mercial hunts are also organized for tourists, many more birds are shot than in Malta – of the three million turtle doves hunted across the EU, an estimated 11,000 are shot in Malta, making up 0.37% of the total caught. Of the 4.5 million quail, only 0.11% are shot in Malta, or around 5,000 individual birds. These numbers, according to the IVA campaign, prove that birds hunt- ed in Malta have a negligible impact on the EU-wide number of animals shot. The fact that a satisfactory al- ternative – autumn hunting – could not be found was proved by the Euro- pean Court of Justice and the Euro- pean Commission itself. Representatives went on to note that over the past five years, when quotas began being applied, none of these thresholds was reached, with official statistics estimating that only one third of the maximum number of birds had been killed. "If the populations of turtledove and quail were at risk, the EU would take steps to stop the hunting of millions of birds in mainland Europe, not the few thousand killed in Malta," repre- sentatives said. "The Maltese quotas are not deter- mined by hunters but by experts, on the basis of scientific data collected through annual government-com- missioned studies. It is of note that BirdLife Malta boycotts these studies every year. "Malta's right to apply a derogation was confirmed by the fact that spring hunting is indeed sustainable," it was claimed. "It is for this reason that the move- ment's message is: 'Yes, equal in Eu- rope' as we should not be deprived of what other citizens of the European Union enjoy." MARTINA BORG QORMI will be offering electric bi- cycles to commuters in an effort to ease traffic congestion. The project was announced yes- terday by minister Owen Bonnici, who addressed a news conference about the capital projects fund at the Qormi park and ride. Qormi mayor Rosianne Cutajar explained that three bicycles would be purchased at first, as well as charging stations. This would en- able commuters to park their cars in the Park and Ride facility and cycle to work. "Traffic congestion and a poor environment are the most common complaints and the plan is ultimately to increase the number of available bicycles," Cutajar said, adding that a call would be issued in the coming weeks to identify a private company willing to offer the service. Cutajar explained that these projects would only be possible with the help of private companies. She added that there were plans to set the bicycles up with a GPS system to keep track of the bicycles for safety reasons. "The charging stations are within the park and ride itself, which means that they will be under constant CCTV surveillance," Cutajar added. Bonnici explained that 80 propos- als had been submitted to the fund- ing scheme and that the board had chosen two pertaining to the Qormi area. The government had launched the capital projects fund initiative back in January. It would see local councils benefitting from a €1 mil- lion fund. Earlier this month, Bon- nici had announced that 30 projects pertaining to 29 localities had been approved by a selection board to benefit from the capital projects fund. Mario Azzopardi, chairman of the selection board for the projects had said at the time that the projects had been chosen on the basis of various criteria with sustainability and the financial situation of the councils in question at the core of the selection. At yesterday's news conference Bonnici praised the efforts of the Qormi local council and said that it had made proposals that were con- sidered in-line with the guidelines of the fund, so much so that they had selected two projects in the locality. Bonnici pointed out how the capital projects fund was making it possi- ble for local councils to improve the satisfaction of those living in their localities. "The second project in the scheme will target safety, and it will involve the installation of lighting at zebra crossings in six locations," the mayor explained. Bonnici added that the lights would be LEDs which would ensure that the whole system introduced would be environmentally friendly, which ties in to the electric bicycle system. Cutajar explained that both projects are expected to cost around €50,000 in total, with the first cost- ing €27,000. Prime Minister to address Henley forum in Zurich Malta has right to hunting derogation - IVA campaign Electric bicycles to be available to commuters in Qormi Park and Ride Joseph Muscat sharing a joke with Henley & Partners representatives, including CEO Eric Major (left) Nile Xuereb addressing the media yesterday for the Yes Campaign