The Voice of the Maltese 13
Tuesday May 7, 2019
Roundup of News About Malta
Malta has the highest employment rate of recent graduates in Europe
M
alta currently has the highest employment rate of recent graduates in Europe. It stands at 94.5%, which is even better than Germany, with 90.9%, and the Netherlands, in the third position with 90.4%. Education and training specialists theknowledgeacademy.com dived into the data to find out the current employment rate of recent graduates. It found that Mal-
PM proposes granting automatic citizenship to adopted children
tese graduates are the most likely to find employment. Meanwhile, Eurostat figures just published indicate that just over 34% of Maltese youths in the 30 to 34 age group have achieved tertiary education. Malta’s target by 2020 is that 33% of youths in this age group will have concluded tertiary education. Malta is ahead of Italy, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Romania
It also shows that Malta is one of 16 European Union countries that have achieved or exceeded their targets about youths with tertiary education, However, although since 2006 the percentage of early school-leavers in up to 2018 in Malta has dropped from 31% to 17.5%, along with Spain and Romania, Malta still places in the lower reaches standing
P
arents of adopted children have welcomed Prime Minister Joseph Muscat’s proposal to amend the adoption law in order for adopted children to be automatically granted Maltese citizenship when they are adopted by Maltese couples. The Prime Minister made the proposal when he addressed a national conference on adoptions. As things stand, adoptive parents have to resort to the Court in Malta for children to be granted Maltese citizenship and then wait for a number of months before the children are granted Maltese citizenship. Muscat also informed the conference that soon, Maltese couples would soon also be able to start adopting children from Bulgaria, and discussions have also given instructed to look into making Nepal another possible destination for adoptive parents. Since 2013 a record number of 154 children have been adopted from a number of countries. The number includes the adoption of 25 Maltese children by Maltese adoptive parents. In order to ease the financial burden on adoptive parents, some months ago the Government has started to give a €10,000 grant to them as part of expenses incurred during the adoption process. In the last few months, Maltese delegates managed to conclude discussions with Bulgaria, Moldova, Poland, and India in order to make the first step into adoption an easier task for Maltese parents.
Malta hosts Disability Rights meet
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alta hosted 26 EU-Arab countries to the first High-Level Meeting for Disability Rights (above) at the end of which they signed the first political declaration for more regional co-operation for rights of persons with disability. Through it the countries re-affirmed their commitment to abide by the principle of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Sustainability Development Goals. The Speaker of the House of Representatives Dr Anglu Farrugia presided over the meeting that was attended by delegates from Arab and European countries, including representatives of the League of Arab States and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). They discussed and shared their experiences in re-
Second edition of Blockchain Summit May 22-25
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he first edition of the Malta AI & Blockchain Summit in November last year turned out to be a monumental success with the participation of around 8500 people. A second edition of the stellar show is taking place May 22-25. The speaker line up is to feature top names within the industry along with Malta’s Prime Minister Joseph Muscat and Parliamentary Secretary for Financial Services, Digital Economy and Innovation Silvio Schembri. Sophia the Robot, will also be making her second visit to the island.
spect of the adoption of measures at upholding the rights of and improving the living conditions of persons with disabilities. Speaker Anġlu Farrugia held that the democratically elected representatives of the people are morally obliged to speak on behalf of disadvantaged persons and to advance their causes till their legitimate demands are legally acknowledged, and action and measures are duly taken by governments to secure social justice and social order, and the rightful place of persons with disabilities in society. In his concluding remarks, Parliamentary Secretary for Persons with Disability and Active Ageing, Anthony Agius Decelis, whose secretariat organised the event, said that as governments one needs to lead by example through the provision of accessible services, promotion of inclusive policies, allocation of funds and development of new initiatives. He said that as a country Malta should be proud to have initiated the dialogue between European and Arab delegations through such a meeting. He encouraged all participating countries to continue working together for the benefit of persons with disabilities in our respective countries.