Technology was helping small countries like Malta make their mark, with geographical location less important than ever before, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat told an audience in Shanghai.
Small countries had the advantage of being able to innovate at a faster rate and it was no wonder that Malta’s economy was nowadays being driven forward by technology and innovation, Dr Muscat said.
Dr Muscat was speaking at a Commerce and Innovation Forum held as part of an international expo in China.
As Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Alibaba entrepreneur Jack Ma listened in, Dr Muscat made an appeal against protectionist trade policies, calling them “totally opposed” to innovation and technological progress.
More and more countries, he noted, were becoming aware that they needed to create regulatory frameworks for emerging technologies.
Dr Muscat’s speech came less than one week after a regulatory framework for blockchain technology came into force in Malta – the first such framework across the world.
The Prime Minister also touched upon the growing importance of Artificial Intelligence and argued that policymakers had to start planning for education systems of the future, when machines…
