Although the unemployment rate in Malta is one of the lowest in the European Union, young Maltese people still face major difficulties when renting accommodation due to very high prices. This resulted from a recent report published by Caritas on the main challenges related to poverty and social inclusion of young Maltese people. The report includes a recommendation to the Government of Malta to address these challenges. All proposals are based on analysis and experiences collected by Caritas Malta.

“Living in Malta seems like paradise. This may be true for tourists visiting the island but, unfortunately, for those with low income this presents a major obstacle because one cannot make plans for the future”, said a young man who benefits from the services offered by Caritas Malta. The young man shared his experience and struggle to live. “Personally, I cannot save anything from the monthly pay. My salary is very low and it is quite difficult to live decently. Three quarters of my salary is used to pay rent and electricity bills”.

According to Caritas Malta, this story is not isolated or one of the few. The official report of the non-governmental organization lists Malta’s major challenges in relation to poverty and social exclusion of young Maltese mainly: the minimum wage does not guarantee a decent life; a rigid school system that does not ease the transition from the education system to the working world; young Maltese have difficulty starting an independent life away from their parents’ home and there is little opportunity for marginalized young people.

Caritas Malta’s recommendation to the Government of Malta is to increase the opportunity of social housing, subsidize rental fees and ensure an adequate minimum wage. The non-governmental organization proposes a reform of the academic and vocational educational system, so that young Maltese people can easily enter the labor market. Despite Malta’s record-breaking economic outcomes, the country has the lowest proportion of adults in tertiary education and is in the penultimate position of the EU countries with the highest percentage of early school leavers.
Each year Caritas Malta treats about 700 drug victims with an average age of 27 years. The Maltese Government is being asked to set up rehabilitation facilities for children under the age of 18 and to strengthen the services for the integration of young criminals.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews

The headquarters of the Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) in Tunis closed the month of October by signing four major partnership agreements for its co-operation in Tunisia. In particular – says Italian Cooperation – during a ceremony chaired by the Education Minister, Hatem Ben Salem, two funding agreements were signed to reaffirm Italy’s commitment together with the European Union for education and food quality for children in Tunisia.

A first funding of Unicef amounting to around 10 million euros – of which 4.6 from the Italian Cooperation and 5.5 from the EU – will allow a large program to improve the quality of primary education to ensure greater success opportunities for children from Tunisia.

Another 2.5 million euro agreement was signed between the Italian Cooperation and the WFP to fund a new initiative to promote school food system under the National Strategy for Sustainable School Food Supply.

The actions that will be implemented through these programs are aimed at strengthening the capacity of the education system, including pre-school education, school environments and pupils’ nutrition, and combating factors leading to failure and school dropout. So every student can learn and grow in an inclusive, safe and healthy environment.

For Italy the agreements were signed by Ambassador Raimondo De Cardona and the head of the AICS headquarters in Tunis Flavio Lovisolo.

In previous days, both attended a similar ceremony with the United Nations Migration Agency (IOM), with whom they had signed an agreement to implement the project “Migration as a resource: mobilizing the Tunisian diaspora and stabilizing the disadvantaged communities in Tunisia”.

The event was chaired by the Secretary of State for Migration and Tunisians Abroad, Adel Jarboui. This project aims to involve Tunisians living abroad, especially in Italy, in the development priorities identified in their regions of origin, as sponsors and investors in microprojects supported by local entrepreneurs. These are projects that mainly concern the disadvantaged and border areas of Tunisia. The project offers a new alternative to traditional sources of finance and promotes the search for business opportunities in the Italian market. With a total budget of € 2.9 million, the initiative aims to support the creation of 70 high-potential development microprojects and create 210 formal jobs in the Jendouba, Kef, Medenine and Tataouine regions.

Another agreement was signed between Italy and the UN Development Agency (UNDP) to support the electoral process, in particular for the upcoming municipal elections that will allow local administrators to be elected for the first time, as envisaged by the new constitution of the country. Through this agreement, Italy has given substance to its commitment to support Tunisia in the implementation of the decentralization process established by the new Constitution.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Egypt has reached a staff level agreement with the International Monetary Fund for an instalment of around $2 billion in its three-year, $12 billion loan programme.

The agreement is pending approval by the IMF executive board..

An IMF delegation visited Egypt from 25 October to 9 November to assess the progress of the loan programme, which was finalised in November 2016.

The IMF loan comes in support of Egypt’s financial reform programme, which aims to curb the growing state budget deficit and has included floating the Egyptian pound.

The IMF praised the commitment of the Egyptian government to the reform programme, referring to the rise in Egypt’s GDP to 4.2 percent in fiscal year 2016/17, compared to a projected 3.5 percent.

The IMF also praised the increasing confidence of investors, adding that the portfolio investments into Egypt reached $16 billion this year and foreign direct investment rose by 13 percent.

In July, Egypt received the final instalment of the first $4 billion tranche of the IMF loan. (Amwal Al Ghad).

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

From next 17 December a Comiso-Malta flight will be operational. The announcement came in the course of a joint press conference held by Soaco and Air Malta managers at Comiso airport. The flight connecting Comiso airport and the island of the Knights will be operational two days per week, Friday and Sunday. From last summer the Maltese airline operated three weekly flights from Palermo and 14 weekly flights from Catania.

“The launch of this new route – commented Joseph Galea, Ceo of Air Malta – is a new opportunity for both islands. As an airline, we know how strong the link between Sicily and Malta is. Last year we transported 150,000 passengers from Catania (6% more) and nearly 20 thousand passengers in the new route from/to Palermo”.

“For us Sicily – Claude Zammitt Trevisan, Italy Director of Malta Tourism Authority added – represents a very important slice of the market. We have flights from Catania and also from Palermo. Comiso is the step we had to do to consolidate our presence”.

“Malta – Silvio Meli and Giorgio Cappello, respectively President and CEO of Soaco, that manages the Pio La Torre airport of Comiso stressed – is the ideal destination both for incoming and outgoing: Malta is indeed an important international hub, one strategic link to continue to other European routes”.

The two managers of Soaco have also stated that since the beginning of the opening of Comiso airport, “creating a connection with the island of Malta has always been a priority objective, which is framed in a policy to increase the direct links by differentiating the offer. Even on the route that we link Malta to Comiso the Air Malta fare Go Light will be available, offering the possibility to fly for 39 euros one way”.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

According to the latest IVC Research report, $ 1.44 billion is the figure collected by 144 Israeli start-ups in the third quarter of 2017, up 14% to $ 1.27 billion in the previous quarter 2017 and up 54% from $ 933 million in the corresponding quarter of 2016. However, the number of agreements fell in the third quarter of 2017 to just over 140. 

The average financing round was $ 10 million in the third quarter of 2017, the highest in the last five years, compared to an average of € 8 million and € 6.7 million, respectively, in the previous quarter and the corresponding quarter of 2017.

In the first nine months of 2017, Israeli start-ups hit a record $ 3.8 billion in funding, equal to the corresponding 2016 period. However, the total number of bids – in total 457 agreements – fell to the lowest level of the last five years. The average financing round has grown steadily from $ 3.3 million in the first nine months of 2013 to $ 8.2 million in the corresponding period of 2017. According to IVC, “Data shows a decline in the number of transactions carried out in the first nine months of 2017. The IVC analysis found that most of this decrease was due to early seed operations.” In the third quarter of 2017, venture capital funds represented the highest quarterly figure over the past five years, with $ 1.2 billion collected in 89 agreements.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

The Moroccan state secretary of state for water resources, Mme Charafat Afailal, has announced actions aimed at facing the severe water crisis that is affecting the Zagora region, semi-arid area bordering the Sahara. This area is currently affected by a strong drought, determined by the absence of precipitation and the excessive exploitation of the underground slope. The measures envisaged are as follows: 1) the creation of a new Water Agency for the Draâ Oued Noun reservoir to manage local water policy; 2) the transfer of water resources from the Mansour Eddahbi Dam to feed Zagora’s groundfalls (a first intervention was carried out in June and a second is due in mid-November); 3) new perforations in search of groundwater; 4) carrying out maintenance work and renovation of the Zagora water distribution network in order to improve its performance. These work should be completed by the end of 2018.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Energy is one of the sectors with the higher absorption of private investment in Albania, especially for the construction of hydroelectric power plants. In the context of diversification and sustainability of sources according to the targets set by the Energy Community to which Albania acceded in July 2017, the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy and the European Bank for Reconstruction (EBRD) met stakeholders to present the MoU signed to support the photovoltaic sector. During the debate, the Ministry reconfirmed commitments to develop solar plants and purchase at guaranteed average prices (100 euros / MWh for photovoltaic and 70 euros / MWh for 2017 wind) with a 50 MW limit (30 MW for wind power plants) . Based on art. 10 (3) of Law 7/2017, the Energy Regulatory Authority (ERE) approves the purchase price of energy produced from small renewable sources in accordance with the methodology approved by the Council of Ministers.

Only in October, 11 applications for photovoltaic parks totaling around 25 million euros were submitted to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

According to the “Competent Persons Report – CPR” company, Montenegro owns 51 billion cubic meters of gas and 144 million cubic meters of liquid resources, which equal to 438 million barrels of oil. The preparation of the exploration activities, on two areas off the southern coast of Montenegro, granted to the Greek company Energean Oil & Gas, is an integral part of the first three-year exploration phase, which includes seismic surveys and geological and geophysical studies.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews

Malta observed a national day of mourning in honour of the Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia assassinated on the 16th of October by a bomb placed in her car. The bomb detonated minutes after the journalist left her home in Bidnija.

Hundreds of people paid their respect to the journalist during the funeral held at the Rotunda of Mosta. The journalist’s family decided that the funeral will not be broadcast and prohibited access to local and international media representatives both at the church ceremony and at the cemetery. The Mass was celebrated by the Archbishop of Malta, Charles J. Scicluna.

In his homily, Archbishop Scicluna warned the assassins of Caruana Galizia. “To who has been involved in the assassination of Daphne, I have this message to say to you: however difficult it is to evade legal justice, you can never escape the justice of God. Repent before it is too late!”.

Scicluna also sent a message of hope to journalists. “I encourage you to never tire out in your mission to be the eyes, ears, and mouth of the people. Do this without fear and with full respect to the truth. Dear journalists, we need people in your profession to be free, smart, curious, honest, serene, safe and protected”.

Furthermore the Archbishop asked for solidarity by the Maltese people, “Please stop the disrespectful words with which you can demonize and degenerate. We can enjoy the true freedom and prosperity that comes from solidarity”.

Scicluna gave courage to the sons of Caruana Galizia, Matthew, Andrew and Paul. “Every time your mother was abroad, she used to light a candle in the church for each one of you, a silent prayer of a mother for her children, remember the words of the Gospel announced today, he who speaks the truth comes to light, your beloved mother suffered a cruel death by the hidden hand of someone who wants to put darkness to the light. See that you will always be the children of light.”

The President of the Republic Marie-Louise Coleiro Preca did not attend the ceremony as she was previously informed by a family friend that her presence was not welcome.

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and the leader of the Opposition Adrian Delia did not attend either. The Caruana Galizia family made a public announcement that the presence of the Maltese state was not wanted. Muscat and Delia were targeted by the murdered journalist in articles published on her blog accusing them of abuse of power and links with criminals respectively.

On the other hand Antonio Tajani, President of the European Parliament, was personally invited by the Caruana Galizia family and was present for the religious ceremony.

Following the Maltese Government’s decision to declare a day of national mourning, flags on all government buildings were flying at half-mast.

(ITALPRESS/MNA).

Source: medNews