NSO Malta | NSO Conference

Data for the Future

NSO’s Multiannual Plan 2027–2029

Date

17 Nov 2025

Time

09:00

Venue

Aula Magna Hall, Valletta

The National Statistics Office (NSO) is pleased to announce its upcoming Users’ Conference dedicated to presenting and discussing the strategic direction of official statistics in Malta for the period 2027–2029.

This conference, titled “Data for the Future: NSO’s Multiannual Plan 2027–2029”, will bring together key stakeholders, data users, and partners to explore how NSO’s future work programme can best respond to emerging needs, policy priorities, and societal challenges.

Conference Highlights

Keynote Address by the Chairman of the Malta Statistics Authority
Presentation by the Director General, outlining NSO’s modernisation strategy
A look at the main priorities for European statistics in the years ahead
Panel Discussions led by Directors of the Social, Economic, and Business Directorates, each followed by moderated discussions with expert panellists

Why attend?

Gain early insight into NSO’s strategic priorities for the next three years
Participate in discussions that will shape the future of Malta’s official statistics
Engage directly with NSO leadership, statisticians, and fellow data users
Hear from Eurostat on the evolving priorities for European statistics

Agenda

Download Agenda PDF

Time	Event
08:45 – 09:30	Registration and Welcoming Coffee
09:30 – 09:45	Opening Session – Keynote Address Dr Carl Camilleri, Chairman of the Malta Statistics Authority
09:45 – 10:00	NSO’s Strategic Direction Mr Etienne Caruana, Director General of the NSO
10:00 – 10:15	Priorities for Official European Statistics Mr Jean Pierre Poncelet, Director Standards; Dissemination; Cooperation in the European Statistical System, Eurostat
10:15 – 11:15	Session 1 – Social Statistics Panel Setting the scene by Mr Matthew Zerafa, Director Social Statistics Panellists: Mr David Spiteri Gingel, Mr Matthew Zerafa, Professor Sue Vella Moderator: Mr Toni Attard
11:15 – 11:30	Coffee Break
11:30 – 12:30	Session 2 – Economic Statistics Panel Setting the scene by Mr Keith Borg, Director Economic Statistics Panellists: Mr Keith Borg, Professor Philip von Brockdorff, Mr Silvan Mifsud Moderator: Dr Aaron Grech
12:30 – 13:30	Session 3 – Business Statistics Panel Setting the scene by Mr Manuel Tabone Panellists: Mr Jean Paul Fabri, Mr Manuel Tabone, Dr Marthese Portelli Moderator: Ms Marisa Xuereb
13:30 – 14:30	Lunch
14:30 – 15:15	Closing Session – The Moderators’ Panel: A Closing Conversation Panellists: Dr Aaron Grech, Ms Marisa Xuereb, Mr Toni Attard Moderator: Mr Etienne Caruana
15:15 – 15:30	Closing Remarks Mr Etienne Caruana

Biographies

Dr Carl Camilleri

Dr Carl Camilleri is a Senior Lecturer at the University of Malta within the Faculty of Economics, Management and Accountancy. He is currently the Head of the Economics Department at this same Faculty.

In his lecturing career over the past 15 years, Dr Camilleri has focused primarily on the subject of Econometrics. Nevertheless, he has taught several other subjects, including Applied Macroeconomics, Health Economics and the Economics of Ageing and Pensions.

Prior to joining the Accademia Dr Camilleri served in the public service within the Economic Policy Division of the Ministry of Finance and held the position of Senior Economist within the same division. In this role, Dr Camilleri was mainly responsible for macroeconomic forecasting and the modelling and analysis of pension reform systems within the Maltese Economy.

Dr Camilleri holds a Masters of Science degree in Econometrics from Queen Mary and Westfield College – University of London, and was awarded the Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from City University London in 2015.

Mr Etienne Caruana

Mr Etienne Caruana has been with the National Statistics Office (NSO) since 2000. He served for several years as Director of Social and Regional Statistics before being appointed Director General.

In this role, he has led major strategic initiatives to modernise the NSO’s operations and enhance the quality and relevance of official statistics. In 2020, he was appointed Census Officer, overseeing the 2021 Population and Housing Census.

Mr Caruana is an ex-officio member of the Malta Statistics Authority Board, a member of the Retail Price Index Board, and an elected member of the Partnership Group of the European Statistical System. He also lectures Mathematics for Business at the University of Malta and has served as an international expert in social statistics.

Since July 2025, he has been a member of the MCCAA Board of Governors.

Mr Jean-Pierre Poncelet

Mr Jean-Pierre Poncelet has a long experience in European statistics, having held various positions in Eurostat.

He was assistant to Eurostat’s Director General for about 5 years before being appointed Head of Unit in charge of Government Finance Statistics and Quality.

Jean-Pierre was then Head of Unit in charge of statistics for administrative purposes in Eurostat, providing the Commission services with key figures relating to GNI and VAT Own Resources, as well as to Pensions and Remuneration of EU Staff.

He is Director of the Standards; Dissemination; and Cooperation in the European Statistical System.

Dr Aaron Grech

Aaron G. Grech has been the Chief Economist of the Central Bank of Malta since 2016. In this capacity, he oversees the Bank’s economic analysis and research activities, including advising the Governors on monetary policy issues. Dr Grech also serves as Deputy Chairman of the Malta Statistics Authority. Prior to these roles, he was for seven years a research fellow at the London School of Economics. He also worked as an Economic Advisor to the UK government. He holds degrees from the University of Malta, University College London, and the London School of Economics.

Mr David Spiteri Gingell

David Spiteri Gingell has held senior government roles in public service reform, ICT, R&D&I, and energy. Since 2008 he has worked as an independent consultant on institutional reforms in Malta and abroad.

Appointed in 2004 as Chair of the Pension Reform Commission, he led related task groups until 2012 and later was invited to join the Pension Strategy Group.

In 2015 he was invited to draft Malta’s first National Strategy for Financial Capability and implemented it through Gemma. He advises the Ministry for Social Protection and Children’s Rights on social protection reform and was awarded the Order of the Terra Mariana (4th Class) by the President of Estonia in 2001.

Mr JP Fabri

JP Fabri is a co-Founding Partner of Seed Consultancy, a purpose-driven boutique business advisory firm. An economist by profession, Mr Fabri has amassed local and international experience both in the private and public sector. He has served as a director of a number of companies and formed part of the executive team of a London-listed company.

Mr Fabri formed part of the private office of the former Prime Minister of Malta and Governor of the Central Bank of Malta. He also has international policy advisory experience after having advised nine governments on economic development.

Mr Fabri followed post-graduate studies in economics and political economy at the University of Malta and the London School of Economics. Research interests include blockchain, governance and economic resilience and he has published internationally. He is a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta. He is also Director of Development of The Blockchain & Climate Institute, a global think-tank on the use of blockchain in climate change mitigation.

Mr Keith Borg

Keith Borg is the Director of Economic Statistics at Malta’s National Statistics Office (NSO), where he leads a team of Heads overseeing five key statistical domains. He provides strategic direction, ensures effective resource and change management, and fosters collaboration across departments and institutions to strengthen the quality and relevance of Malta’s economic statistics.

Before assuming his current role in 2023, Mr Borg served as Head of the Balance of Payments Unit at the NSO (2019–2022), where he led major methodological improvements and system upgrades, enhancing the accuracy and timeliness of Malta’s external sector statistics. From 2017 to 2019, he was Director for Taxation and Benefits Policy Analysis within the Economic Policy Department at the Ministry for Finance, leading analytical work on tax expenditures, income distribution, and the labour market to support evidence-based policymaking.

Mr Borg holds a Master of Arts in Economics and a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours) in Economics from the University of Malta. He is passionate about leveraging data to inform policy, promote transparency and drive institutional excellence.

Mr Manuel Tabone

Manuel Tabone is the Director responsible for Business, Sectoral, and Regional Statistics at Malta’s National Statistics Office (NSO). An Economics postgraduate from the University of Malta, he brings over 24 years of experience in official statistics and policy development. Over the past two decades, he has held both managerial and senior management roles within the Public Sector and the NSO. He has served in his current position as Director since 2018. Internationally, mainly at Eurostat, he represents the NSO within the Business Statistics Directors’ Group (BSDG), the Business Statistics Directors’ Group – Strategic Development Group (BSDG-SDG), and in the meetings for Directors of Sectoral and Environmental Statistics and Accounts (DIMESA).

Ms Marisa Xuereb

Marisa Xuereb is an economist by education. She has worked in the manufacturing industry for close to 30 years and served as President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry between 2021 and 2023. She is a Director of a number of companies in financial services, telecoms and industrial services.

Dr Marthese Portelli

Dr Marthese Portelli is a law graduate from the University of Malta specialised in applied business law and IT. Throughout her 28 years of working experience she occupied several managerial posts and spearheaded nationwide projects within the public and the private sector.

In 2013 she contested the general election successfully and was re-elected again in 2017, during which she shadowed challenging portfolios including EU affairs, energy, environment, transport, infrastructure, capital projects, planning and property.

Following her departure from politics, Dr Portelli ventured into the sphere of sectoral representation. Since 1st May 2021 she took on the role as CEO of The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry. She is also a visiting lecturer at the University of Malta and sits on the Board of Directors of Malta Business Bureau (MBB), Education Malta, Tech.MT and Trade Malta.

Mr Matthew Zerafa

Mr Matthew Zerafa is Director for Social Statistics at the National Statistics Office. He has been working at the NSO for the past 18 years, starting as a statistician and later serving as Head of Unit before being appointed Director in 2019.

Mr Zerafa holds a Master’s Degree in Economics and is responsible for a broad range of statistical areas including population, migration, labour market, living conditions, tourism, education, and crime. His work involves overseeing the collection, analysis, and dissemination of social statistics.

He also served as a Deputy Census Officer during the 2021 Census of Population and Housing, contributing to the coordination and execution of this nationwide statistical exercise.

Prof. Philip von Brockdorff

Philip von Brockdorff is a professor of Economics in the Department of Economics, specialising in public sectors Economics. He graduated MSc Economics from the University of Wales and DPhil in Economics from the University of York.

Prof. von Brockdorff was recently appointed President of the Observatory in Brussels on the Single Market Enforcement. He is also a Governor on the Governing Board of the Malta Financial Services Authority.

Mr Silvan Mifsud

Silvan Mifsud holds a degree in Banking & Finance from the University of Malta and an MBA from the University of Reading, specialising in Corporate Finance and Business Leadership. Silvan has been involved in various sectors of the economy from telecommunications, financial services and also manufacturing, holding various managerial and directorship roles. Silvan is a Director for Advisory Services at EMCS, whereby he specialises in economic advisory and business advisory with a special focus on family businesses. Silvan is also an economic analyst and writes weekly economic analysis articles on the Malta Business Weekly. He is the Chairperson of the Family Business Committee within the Malta Chamber and is also Vice President at the Malta Chamber and represents the Malta Chamber on the National Productivity Board and the Retail Price Index Advisory Committee.

Prof. Sue Vella

Sue Vella is an Associate Professor of Social Policy at the University of Malta, where she lectures in, among others, policy analysis, welfare state development and European social policy.

Prof. Vella brings nearly two decades of senior public sector experience to her teaching and research, including seven years as a member of the EU’s Employment Committee and two years as Chair of its technical group.

She is a frequent user of national statistics, particularly of population and social conditions data, and supports students to make use of these as they develop into evidence-based policy practitioners.

Prof. Vella also leads the Working Life pillar of PROMISE, the poverty research cluster at the University of Malta, and is the national coordinator of the Maltese team in the European Social Policy Analysis Network.

Mr Toni Attard

Toni Attard is the founder and director of Culture Venture, bringing extensive experience in leading cultural projects, shaping public policy, and developing strategic frameworks for the cultural and creative sectors. He is also the founder and artistic director of the arts production house Udjenza. He played a key role in establishing several national public arts funding programmes and formulating strategies to support Malta’s cultural and creative sectors.

As the first Director of Strategy at Arts Council Malta, Mr Attard led the development of the Council’s Create 2020 strategy. He also served as Creative Economy Advisor within Malta’s Ministry of Finance, the Economy and Investment, where he contributed to the creation of the national strategy for the cultural and creative industries. He is one of the authors of Malta’s national cultural policy and is a visiting lecturer in arts management at both the University of Malta and Knights College.

Mr Attard’s international contributions include participation in various EU policy groups and frequent speaking engagements at global arts and culture conferences. He chaired the International Programming Advisory Committee of the 8th World Summit on Arts & Culture and, in 2023, was appointed by the European Commission to the expert group for monitoring and evaluating the European Capitals of Culture.

He is a founding member of Opening Doors, an NGO for artists with learning disabilities and the Malta Entertainment Industry and Arts Association, where he served as its first Vice-President.

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