Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/881840
22 5 0 years ago, Malta stood proudly on the global stage on Ocean protection. At the United Nations in 1967, Malta's own Arvid Pardo became known as the 'father of the law of the sea conference'. This conference, and Pardo's work, set in place the laws that still govern our planet's seas and oceans. Now, with Our Ocean 2017, Malta is returning to the global stage. As European Commissioner for the Environment, Fisheries and Maritime Affairs, I am deeply honoured to jointly host the 4th edition of the Our Ocean conference on 5-6 October. I will host Our Ocean with the EU foreign policy representative, Federica Mogherini. We chose the Azure window as symbol of this edition. It was a stark reminder of the transience of things. It is also an urgent call to make sure we protect what we can. And we think that the calibre of international guests the EU has drawn to Malta will do just that – protect our ocean: Ocean champions like His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, Queen Noor of Jordan, Prince Albert II of Monaco and former US Secretary of State John Kerry, the founder of the Our Ocean series. Global ocean leaders all. Together with researchers, the NGO community and entrepreneurs, they are here to make sure we use our ocean in productive, sustainable ways. Ways that guarantee its long term future, and ours. I'm sure that, just like me, you are frustrated by the growing presence of plastic in our ocean. Be it full bags, or even containers, or microscopic ' beads', it all adds up to a serious problem. Our approach is to act local and global. Impressive work by the Malta National Aquarium to promote a plastic free ocean has been supported by the European Commission and the US Department of State. The example has been matched by aquariums all over the world. They are part of a worldwide campaign to educate millions about the danger of plastic waste. Their actions are just one of the many acts that have been inspired by the Our Ocean conference. The private sector commitments we will see over the next two days are the biggest endorsement of Our Ocean's progess, and its success. The global community needs to do more and we are driving areas of action where we are seeking commitments. For example, international law requires a minimum of 10% of marine and coastal areas to be effectively protected by 2020. Today, only 5% of marine and coastal areas are protected by law, and less than 1% is fully enforced. Expect big announcements at our conference. Over-exploitation of fish has already removed up to 90% of the larger species from the world 's oceans. At the same time, the scourge of illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU) represents up to €10 billion annually (up to 15% of the global catch). Expect new actions. And as plastic litter and urban waste are accumulating worldwide at an alarming rate, 10 million tonnes of litter are dumped in the sea every year – 400 kilos per second! In some areas, micro plastics already outnumber plankton by six to one and by 2050 there could be more plastic than fish in our ocean. The EU is leading the way on designing tough new measures. Malta is now part of the Our Ocean family. And as part of that family we now have a duty to keep the pressure high for lasting commitments. I hope you get a chance to watch the conference unfold over the coming days. You will be able to watch as Malta writes a new chapter in its ocean history. I think Arvid Pardo would be proud. Karmenu Vella is European Commissioner for maritime af fairs and fisheries T he Maltese government's growth-friendly budgets and sound fiscal policy have transpired into a thriving economy that is now expected to remain well above the EU average in terms of growth, having secured its highest-ever surplus in public finance besides record-low unemployment figures. And yet, this robust economy still poses major challenges: failure to address both labour and skill shortages can only hinder progress and impede growth. These concerns were repetitively raised at a dialogue meeting organised by the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry which I personally attended. As a result of having virtually "full- employment", employers are struggling to recruit locals or even EU nationals and third- country nationals who are willing to take up particular jobs in a number of sectors. We are also experiencing a mismatch in skills in certain industries, whereby employers are finding it hard to identify employees for certain highly- qualified jobs. This means a labour gap exists in terms of both quantity and quality which impedes companies who wish to enlarge their business operations. This reality is not solely confined to the tourism or construction industries but almost all other sectors of the economy are either envisaging or encountering such constraints. In response, employers have resorted to recruiting foreign workers, most of whom are third country nationals. Single-permit holders increased to just over 8,000 by the end of 2016 from 2,757 in 2012. It goes without saying that a greater inf lux is anticipated in the coming years. Nonetheless, this does not pose any imminent threat to the Maltese workforce, due to a growing economy. The surge in demand for foreign workers has proven to be a greater administrative burden, mounting additional pressure on Identity Malta's operations. Single-work permits are issued through a centralised process where applications are vetted by the Immigration Police and assessed by Identity Malta together with the ETC. The agency has now has initiated an internal exercise to fine-tune its operational functions in becoming more efficient, evaluate more streamlined ways to process permits faster, review existing procedures, and reduce processing time to just under two weeks. Significantly, applications of highly-qualified third country nationals earning a gross annual salary of €30,000 are being processed within five days. There is still room for further improvements as already shown in government's preliminary plan presented to the social partners. Amongst others, the government is committing itself to allocate additional resources to Identity Malta, open two new front-offices, eliminate the requirement for experience or qualifications regulation for low-skilled work, extend the present vacancy exemption list to other occupations, and develop an online platform which allows applications to be submitted electronically. This will save ample time, diminish inundating paperwork and provide prompt and up-to- date information about the application progress. The changes at Identity Malta are primarily intended to address the ever-changing labour market demands in such a competitive environment. A growing economy requires additional workforce and rich skills. In anticipation of future growth, we need to address the present labour gap in terms of both quantity and quality so as to further reap the benefits of a booming economy. Julia Farrugia Portelli is parliamentary secretary for reforms and citizenship Opinion maltatoday, SUNDAY, 1 OCTOBER 2017 Julia Farrugia Portelli Karmenu Vella Addressing Malta's labour gap Malta returns to the global stage on ocean protection Ten million tonnes of litter are dumped in the sea every year – 400 kilos per second! In some areas, micro plastics outnumber plankton by six to one