PLANS FOR A WORLD TRADE CENTRE IN MALTA MEMBERSHIP OF THE WORLD TRADE CENTRES ASSOCIATION

The Minister for Economic Services Josef Bonnici has just returned from a short visit to the United States where he led a Maltese delegation for talks with the World Trade Centres Association (WTCA) in New York. The Maltese delegation discussed its plans to establish a World Trade Centre in Malta.

These plans were welcomed by the WTCA which also conveyed its acceptance of Malta's application for membership of the Association. It is expected that Malta's membership of the WTCA will be formally endorsed during the Association's next general conference to be held in April.

The Maltese delegation, led by Minister Bonnici, also included the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of METCO, Mr.Anthony Diacono and Mr.Stephen Sultana respectively and the Deputy Chairman of the Malta Development Corporation Mr.Patrick Catania. The WTCA was represented by its President, Mr Guy F Tozzoli, and by its Executive Vice President, Mr Herbert Ouida.

The WTCA is a not-for-profit, non-political association dedicated to the establishment and effective operation of the World Trade Centres as instruments for international trade expansion. The WTCA presently represents 323 members in 95 countries. The members are all involved in the operation of World Trade Centres or in the provision of related services assisting the promotion and expansion of international trade.

World Trade Centres vary significantly in terms of size, scale and range of the facilities that they offer. However, they are all geared towards providing crucial support services to international business such as temporary office accomodation, secretarial and translation services and corporate training, meeting and exhibition facilities. The underlying strength of World Trade Centres is the close links that exist between them as a result of their membership in the WTCA. The WTCA umbrella provides international business with an effective network of contacts throughout the world.

The Government of Malta sees the establishment of a World Trade Centre in Malta as an additional and very important step in the promotion and development of Malta as a principal hub for trade in the Mediterranean region, exploiting existing infrastructure such as the Malta Freeport.

The meeting with the WTCA in New York was preceded by a visit to the Boston World Trade Centre. In addition to a tour of the facilities provided within that location, the Maltese delegation met Mr John E Drew, President of the Boston World Trade Centre, for a discussion on the particular business strategy adopted by them and by other centres within the WTCA.