of 73 % in 2004. the other maastricht criteria, of course, were all met in good time and in a sustainable manner. meanwhile, the current account deficit dropped from the 6 - 8 % range in the first years after eu accession to around 3 % in 2007, and is expected to drop further as the fiscal consolidation programme continues to unfold. at the same time, the private sector appears to have adjusted well to the changing composition of domestic and external demand. not only has there been a shift away from public sector employment to private services - the share of the public sector in employment shed five percentage points to 30 % since 2000 - but there has also been a move away from low value manufacturing activities to skills based services. indeed, between 2000 and 2006 the share of the manufacturing sector in gross value added dropped by 5. 5 percentage points, while the share of services other than public administration gained more than 6. 5 points to 70 %. the composition of the services and manufacturing sectors has also changed. in manufacturing, for example, the share of the two largest sectors dropped from 52 % in 2000 to 41 % in 2006, suggesting that diversification is underway. industry has also become leaner and increasingly oriented towards capital intensive activities such as generic pharmaceuticals and biomedicine. in the services sector, aircraft maintenance and repair, aviation engineering, software development, call centres and back office and financial services are gaining ground as are well - established activities such as tourism. this change in malta ’ s productive structure reflects a conscious policy of moving away from labour intensive, low - value activities to others that use higher skills and have a potential to according to the 2007 e - rankings of the economist intelligence unit, malta is the 24th most technologically advanced country in the world. the economist intelligence unit defines ‘ e - readiness ’ as the ‘ state of play ’ of a country ’ s information and communications technology ( ict ) infrastructure and the ability of its consumers, businesses and governments to use ict to their benefit. rankings are based on a weighted collection of nearly 100 quantitative and qualitative criteria, organised into six distinct categories measuring the various components of a country ’ s social, political, economic and technological development. the intelligent community forum ( icf ) recognises malta as one of the smart21 communities of 2008. the rankings are based on nominations submitted by large and small communities from around the world that take into account indicators developed by the forum. the award goes to communities or regions with a documented

well. such information, and a minimum level of forecasting capabilities, are in fact necessary for the fulfilment of all the tasks of a central bank, particularly for the maintenance of financial stability and the formulation of monetary policy. central banks of accession countries will therefore assume statistical reporting obligations towards the ecb as soon as they become members of the escb, that is upon eu accession, although these obligations are less onerous than those which apply to euro area members. this future obligation should not pose any difficulty for the central bank as the existing legislation already gives it the power to access information directly and to publish it. in addition to these enabling powers, however, the bank must also be equipped with the necessary technological and operational infrastructure and communication facilities to enable it to receive information from reporting agents and to forward it to the ecb. it must also ensure that the relevant information follows the agreed methodology. recognising this future obligation, the central bank almost three years ago established a broad - based representative committee to identify the changes required in the way monetary and financial statistics are classified and reported. this work has been completed and the reporting forms have been updated accordingly. to facilitate the collection of this information, moreover, a common database is being established between the bank and the malta financial services authority. in the meantime, the bank and the national statistics office are working to establish a common direct reporting database which will permit the dissemination of balance of payments related data to the ecb and eurostat. the steady flow of information between the ecb and the national central banks is equally important from the point of view of transparency and effectiveness. the latter requires that ecb decisions be communicated in each member state as early as possible. for this purpose, the central bank ’ s communications facilities will have to be upgraded. in particular, the bank must have an archiving system capable of receiving, storing, retrieving and sending working documents to the ecb. such a system is being developed. conclusion joining a common currency area clearly involves a complex and multifaceted process with implications of both a substantive and technical nature. this has become particularly evident as the emphasis of the bank ’ s preparations has shifted away from legislative issues to the implementation phase. much useful work has already been done, the bank has been considerably strengthened as a result and we are fully in step with the central banks of other accession countries. looking immediately ahead, the bank ’ s integration within the escb now requires it to be represented on all