Prime Minister Joseph Muscat referred to the significant announcement of a “major investment” of €400 million, which will be injected in Malta’s economy when he was addressing delegates attending the annual meeting in Malta of the UEPC (European Union of Developers and House Builders) last night at the Palace Hotel, Sliema. “This is just another sign of the trust that the private sector is showing in our economy and the way forward is one of further economic growth and success,” he said.

He referred to the latest figures from the European Commission that Malta, together with Ireland, will have the top performing economic growth in the European Union over the next few months for 2015. “Such results do not fall out of the sky but are the result of tough decisions that need to be taken and of a thriving private sector that is taking the lead from our decisions and is delivering,” he commented.

Dr Muscat referred to the current controversy on which decisions had to be taken when needed, which is the crucial point in the success of Malta’s economic policy.

Delegates from nine of the ten European federations that are members of the UEPC are in Malta, led by the UEPC’s President, Jose Manuel Galindo Cueva, for the meeting. Apart from the Malta Developers Association, there are federations from the United Kingdom, Germany, Poland, Norway, Spain, Romania, Belgium and Holland. A record number of members of the MDA were joined by Government Ministers, Parliamentary Secretaries and MPs at last night’s reception.

In his address, MDA President Sandro Chetcuti announced that in the coming weeks the Association is to inaugurate its very own premises in Guardamangia. He said that when Malta joined the EU in 2004 developers were among the many sectors facing challenges to adopt the new rules and apply them effectively.
Since being set up in 2010, the MDA realised that its work as an effective lobby group was limited to what was happening in Malta when often it got to know of new EU regulations after the decisions to apply them had been taken by the EU Commission and the Council of Ministers.

“This, in turn, provoked us into becoming part of a pan-European lobby group that represents developers and house builders – the UEPC,” he said. “We are now part of an organisation that lobbies in the interests of European developers and house builders whenever proposals that could affect our sector are being discussed in Brussels.”
The MDA’s membership of the UEPC not only led it to be more aware of the way Brussels works, but also gave it fresh insight through a common forum where it could share the difficulties, problems and solutions in so many European countries. “Today in Malta we are pushing for higher quality residential units and the exchange of information with other UEPC members has helped us immensely in this regard as well,” he said.

Mr Galindo Cueva thanked Dr Muscat for being present. This, he pointed out, “shows the interest for the real estate industry and the importance of developers to the country’s economy”. He said he had been around the islands in the past few days and was impressed with the real estate development taking place.