Member Article

Event on Exporting to Malta and N. Africa

Exporters wishing to target Malta and North Africa can gain some crucial tips and meet new contacts at an event in Leeds in this spring.

More than 40 exporters are expected to attend the event, Doing Business in Malta, at Deloittes, City Square, on April 7.

The two-hour, late-afternoon event is being organised by export specialist, Chamber International, in association with inward investment body, Malta Enterprise and information technology park, SmartCity Malta, which offers facilities for businesses wishing to do businesses with Malta and with North Africa.

Malta, which is reputed to have one of the world’s best climates, has a 165,000-strong labour force, with unemployment running at 6.5 per cent and highly-competitive corporation tax.

The country has been an EU member since 2004 and started to use the Euro as its main currency four years later. Malta’s main trading partners are Italy, Germany, France, UK, Singapore, USA and Libya and it is also increasingly becoming a gateway to fast-growing economies in Northern Africa.

After an introduction by Chamber International, the event will include a presentation by Malta Enterprise, a case study presentation from a business successfully trading there and a question and answer session.

According to Malta Enterprise, the main opportunities for Yorkshire exporters in Malta and North Africa are in ICT, life sciences, education, advanced manufacturing, oil and gas, maritime and financial services.

Also, as Malta is strategically located along main Mediterranean trading routes, it is established as a logistics hub and a base for trading, regional storage, transhipment, distribution and marketing for international operations.

Malta Enterprise investment promotion manager, John Mizzi, says: “Malta has undergone an incredible transformation since in 1964. Progress and flexibility are key factors in our ability to react quickly to international trends and the global market place.

“Our pro-business government continually seeks to strengthen Malta’s attractiveness as an open-market economy and there are many opportunities for Yorkshire businesses here. Malta is also an ideal stepping stone to the fast-growing economic growth in the Middle East and North Africa which has experienced a robust recovery, after the banking crisis and is forecast to go from strength to strength.”

Chamber International director, Tim Bailey says: “Malta is at the crossroads between Southern Europe, North Africa and the Middle East and is an ideal platform from which many companies can begin to expand within the ‘Euro-Med’ region, particularly North Africa. The event will feature Malta and illustrate how exporting companies can use Malta’s location and strategic alliances to penetrate markets throughout the region.”

Chamber International, Bradford, assists chambers of commerce and other organisations with a wide range of specialist international trade services and is also supporting Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) We Are International export campaign, which aims to being an extra £1.6bn to ten local authority areas and create thousands of new jobs by 2018.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Mike Clarke .