The Prime Minister gave words of courage to students who did not do well in their exams recently, telling them not to give up, and to "keep working to reach your goals."

Prime Minister Robert Abela was being interviewed on ONE Radio. His words came after Matsec O Level, A Level and Intermediate exam results were published recently for thousands of students, showing that hundreds again failed their Maltese, English and maths exams.

The Prime Minister spoke of the programme of summer catch up sessions that were created for students who fell behind due to the pandemic.

"It's an important programme for educational recovery as it provides additional lessons for primary and secondary students to revise what they studied this past year. It is aimed at those students who found it hard to learn during pandemic."

The Prime Minister said that there is clear direction for all the possible arrangements to be made for students to experience life on campus, in their schools, come October.

He said that the vaccine is helping a lot as teachers are fully vaccinated and certain student age groups have access to the vaccine.

"That is why while the health and education authorities make their arrangements, we are doing all that is possible for students not to lose out more on their educational experience."

"Like the environment, education is another pillar for this government. Both are central sectors in our economic strategy for the coming years."

Abela also spoke about the 40,000 vaccine doses that Malta donated to Libya.

"Yes, we are a small country, but this doesn't mean we cannot contribute or that we cannot be international leaders," he said.

At EU level, Malta had agreed that EU countries should help others that had limited access to Covid-19 vaccines, he said.

As Malta's vaccination programme progressed quickly, Malta now has peace of mind that, where the health authorities will need booster shots, it has the resources to supply them, he added. "In this context, Malta was in a position to help our neighbours in Libya by donating 40,000 doses as well as 40,000 rapid test kits.  We see Libya as an important partner and together we must keep fighting global challenges, like this pandemic."

The Prime Minister was also asked about climate change, and the recent reports that were published.

He said that Malta is the least polluting country per capita in the EU. This is due, he said, to the reduction in emissions in the energy sector.

Abela added that Malta moved away from heavy fuel oil and said that some European countries still use coal.

"We also announced the second interconnector."

He said that to tackle climate change, "we must work as a team. A team comprising of the government authorities, the private sector, as well as individuals."

"We must incentivise the private sector with the aim that they feel more comfortable in making environmental decisions."

Abela mentioned a number of incentives the government has made, such as those regarding solar panels, solar water heaters and more.

The Prime Minister also spoke of a modal shift in transport, such as through improving sea connectivity between localities. One such move was the introduction of the fast ferries between Malta and Gozo, he added. He also mentioned that work is ongoing to turn the public transport fleet electric.

Regarding EU-agreed environmental targets, he stressed that the government will work on achieving them while not negatively impacting the people.

He said that the principle of balance must always be present.

As an example, he said that cruise liners give off pollution, but are a strong contributor to the economy and generate jobs. As such, the government went for shore to ship energy technology to reduce that pollution.

The Prime Minister also brought up the public consultation on the low carbon development strategy, to identify measures that Malta could work on to be effective while moving towards a carbon free economy.

He said the opposition is always using the narrative that all was good when it was in government and that the sun set in 2013. "If there is a sector in which we surely cannot go back to pre-2013 times, its environment." He mentioned the high levels of emissions given off due to the power stations pre-2013.

"We are not perfect, but we reduced energy emissions by 40%. We reversed the damage that occurred over many years."