16 May 2007


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From business to politics and back

Interview with John Dalli, MP, who talks about his early career as an accountant, his life in politics his burgeoning business career and his ambitions for Malta in the international commercial scenario

Your background is accountancy. Did you qualify as an accountant in Malta or in UK?
Well I am a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Certified Accountants of the UK (FCCA). I studied in Malta at MCAST for the first two years, and then continued my studies for two further years by correspondence, while I worked as an accountant with the Bluebell Group. I started my studies as a commercial apprentice at the Malta Drydocks, who gave me time off to study part time at MCAST.

The FCCA is a wide ranging qualification, is this a strong commercial base ?
Well, we studied law, commerce, accountancy, negotiation and a number of subjects. Qualifications are not gained for their own sake, they give you a system with which you can operate. For me accountancy gave me literacy in numbers so I know how to use numbers which is probably what I gained most, plus discipline and problem solving. Commercial judgement does not come from study, that comes from experience and mine came from having a hands on attitude during all my job functions.

I started my career as a clerk in a commercial agency, then went on to the dry docks for two years when I was eighteen. Then I went to an advertising agency for a year, then to Bluebell Group, where I started as a clerk and finished as Financial Controller. Financial Controller and Manager of a trading company in Brussels, and Manager of a vast computerised management information system. This was back in 1977/78 when computers were not so much in vogue. I learned a lot, about computers and about managing huge projects as this one had a budget of 5 million dollars to tie up the 23 Bluebell subsidiaries all over Europe. This was very good experience for me, I was young and could absorb a lot, so in this sense my commercial knowledge came from all this practical experience.

Did you consciously bring this into politics?
Yes, politics for me is not playing around and the manipulation of events and people, it is setting targets and trying to achieve them. Hard targets sometimes, often a tough job. When I went into politics I realised that in Malta we do not have trained managers in politics so I felt that there was scope for me to participate and bring management techniques into government. When I was elected and given Ministerial responsibility immediately by Dr. Fenech-Adami I did so.

Even now is there enough trained commercial management skill in the political parties?
I wouldn't put it as commercial management, I would call it straight management which is management of various scenarios as they arise, you don't just manage commerce, you manage the environment, you manage everything that comes your way, rather than let them push you into corners and push you into positions where you have no alternatives - situations must be managed. So I found myself in government being involved not just with the direct responsibilities of my own Ministry but also with a lot of problems pertaining to other Ministries. For example during my cabinet career I found myself as the negotiator for government with all the Unions on all collective agreements and other issues raised. This is because you find yourself in a position where you can deliver and bring your expertise to the team.

Was your experience as a clerk in the dockyards useful?
Yes, I spent around two years at the drydocks, rubbing shoulders with the workforce, getting imbued in the highly electrified political atmosphere. It was during the time when we had the political religious issue, the drydocks were always a Labour cradle, and my debating training probably started in the offices of the drydocks. I used to be debating heavily with people over the issues of the day. I was young and very idealistic, a member of the Museum Society, which placed me very strongly within the religious camp, but at the drydocks I had what I call my “university” in that I could learn the human factor. I learned not to judge people superficially and also not to take decisions on first impressions.

Speaking of the dry docks, I believe “It-Torca” at the weekend claimed that someone was broking a deal with a UK company, can you comment?
I was not brokering a deal on the drydocks with any British company.

Currently you are a very busy man, is this mostly with Libya?
Yes Libya is my country of operation basically and I know the country well from the many years I have spent as Co-Chairman of the Joint Commission between Malta and Libya. I have seen Libya develop, I have seen Libya going through the pains of the sanctions and I have now seen Libya opening its arms to the world; making the effort to re-enter diplomacy and re-enter the mainstream of the world systems.

I am personally very bullish about Libya, after making appropriate assessments I believe that Libya is a very good risk country and a country we should be concentrating on. So when I left cabinet and had the opportunity to start my consultancy career, instead of leaving relations with Libya on a purely political basis, I chose to act commercially in Libya as well. Mainly my job is that of facilitator, to help international companies understand Libya, to understand Libyan risks, Libyan mechanics, to help them introduce themselves and to participate in the economic developement – which all leaves me very busy.

Is it true to say the Libyan people are an open people who ready to adapt?
I believe that Libyans are at the base very similar to us Maltese. We do have some big differences, the biggest of which is the British discipline culture, with which we were imbued during 160 years of British rule. The Libyans did not have that, but “grosso modo” from the human point of view, being Mediterranean, I believe we have very similar traits. Even doing business, working in Libya today, is in many aspects, like the economic situation we had in Malta thirty or forty years ago, when we had just started on our economic revival, shifting from a military economy to a civil economy. Forty years ago when the Maltese started to introduce themselves into the economic mainstream we had very few entrepreneurs, very few Maltese managers and few people who were prepared to take on high responsibilities in many areas. The Libyans are at that stage now, perhaps for different reasons, but it means I understand them very well, together with their policies to try to push the human resource development. To push education, to push the employment of Libyans instead of foreigners – these are policies we imposed here in Malta during the time of our developement. So I believe one can be successful in Libya. There are problems, we must not under state the problems in Libya, but these problems can be insured against by doing things in the proper way.

Do you see a good future for Maltese managers and companies in Libya?
My belief is that there is a big scope for Maltese themselves, to bring their expertise and their money into Libya, and to generate economic activity which will be beneficial to them. This will offer them a much wider scope for their activities than we can enjoy in our own much smaller economy. Libya is a much bigger economy, it is a rich economy and has great potential and I believe that Maltese entrepreneurs be looking at Libya as country into which they should step as principals, not just as brokers. We have been brokering for Libya now for a number of years and I think that Libyans no longer need brokers because they have access to anybody they want in the world. Basically the Libyans are going directly to principals so the Maltese should be considering generating their own corporations in Libya, as some of them are doing.

So is there scope for the Maltese to attract principal European and American partners to go into Libya?
Yes, because apart from the technical and production expertise, the Maltese can bridge the cultural divide, which does exist between the Mediterranean mentality and, say, the Scandinavian, British or American mentality. I always say we have the capability of not just translating the words between the Arabs and foreign businesses, but also their cultures as well, which is a big plus point which will not be found anywhere else.

This is an asset which has evolved from being a hub of Mediterranean activity for thousands of years, so there is a lot we can do.

What about looking North for business?
We do have a couple of clients in Europe who we help with their strategies and we also look at Asia because there are certain synergies and today the world is global. However one has to prioritise because here is only so much one can do and one has to keep a balance.

What about politics, do you have any comment about a political future?
Well I have dedicated most of my life to politics, I started in 1971 when we lost the election. I went into the youth movement of the Nationalist Party at that time, when Dom Mintoff was elected Prime Minister, and I was on the executive of the Nationalist Youth Movement for many years and was on the Executive of the Party for many years. I contested the election in 1987 and was elected; this month I celebrate my twenty years in Parliament and for 16 of those years I was a Cabinet Minister, which I believe to be quite a success. I had a vision for this country which I am very proud to say that we have managed to transform, with the foresight and vision of Eddie Fenech-Adami as Prime Minister and with the assistance of all the colleagues that we had in Cabinet. I was, if I may say, one of the spearheads of the revolution that happened in Malta during the period, and I am very proud of what we have achieved. It wasaction, not talk, we transformed this country into a market economy where the quality of life is much better than anyone had dreamed it was possible to achieve in this small economy. We also put straight the respect for the rule of law, respect for human dignity, for individuals and cleaned up the institutions for the benefit of the Maltese, because this is their country, where they have to live. We also had to bring Malta up to scratch to join the EU in which we believed and in which I still believe is bringing us opportunities today.

So I had a lot of personal investment in this country, although there were some setbacks, coming from certain individuals in my own party, for which they had their reasons, which I can now understand as nobody likes competition. Everybody knows what happened, there was an attempted frame-up which came to the fore, one of the people involved has been accused, found guilty and given a three year sentence, but I have still not received any word of apology from the perpetrators of this act. But yes, I have an investment in this country and have a vision for this country which I will continue to push at a political level.

Are the emerging, newly trained Libyans taking a more responsible role in affairs, and is this changing the commercial face of Libya, and can this help you in your vision for Malta?
Yes it is and drastically. Today I come into contact with good people, good because they are reliable, good because they keep diaries, good because they are very intelligent, good because they are very educated and because they want to work. I meet people with whom I can discuss on a commercial basis without going into the political hullabaloo. They can analyse properly, ask the right questions, give the right answers at the right time. So basically things are moving with young executives being given responsibilities and some of the major assets Libya enjoys. Now they are also creating Funds in Libya with specific focus, which are invested and engaging in large projects, usually with FDI, to develope their plentiful resources. My job is to identify priorities and then identify global layers who will satisfy Libyan requirements. I work with Associates in Europe who pinpoint certain companies and we then bring them together.

So do you then involve Maltese companies where possible?
Some projects are beyond the capabilities of Maltese companies, but if they are within the capabilities I give first preference to Maltese entrepreneurs. I believe that Maltese should reach out beyond our little economy and take the risk of building on a wider scale. Malta has great potential as a sort of Hong Kong or Singapore in the Mediterranean, as it has been a commercial strategic hub for thousands of years. Our future lies in exploiting the larger external market with our intelligence and growing managerial competence.

 



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