Minister for Economic Services on U.S.A. Visit

This morning, the Hon. Prof. Josef Bonnici, Minister for Economic Services, left Malta bound for the USA, where he will have a number of meetings with prospective investors and with US Government officials involved in the promotion of small businesses.

He is accompanied by Mr. Anthony Diacono, the recently-appointed Chairman of METCO (Malta External Trade Corporation) and he will be also be joined, at a later stage, by the Hon. Edwin Vassallo, Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry for Economic Services and by Mr. Lino Callus, Chairman of IPSE (Institute for the Promotion of Small Enterprise).

Minister Bonnici's first engagement will be in Boston, where he will open a two-day programme of business contacts between a number of Maltese companies and prospective US trade and investment partners. This activity is being held as part of a ‘Business Opportunities' mission to the USA, which METCO is coordinating and which, over the last few days, has already touched the cities of Atlanta and New York. The principal objective of this initiative by METCO is to assist interested Maltese companies to seek potential partners in the USA; the objective being the development of reciprocal trade exchanges and the facilitation of joint ventures, leading to US investment in Malta.

Subsequently, Minister Bonnici will travel to Washington DC, where the Maltese delegation will be holding talks with senior officials from the US Small Business Administration. This US government agency is engaged in the promotion of small enterprises throughout the USA and has been in operation for over forty years, during which time it has developed a number of programmes intended to facilitate the emergence of small companies and to sustain their competitiveness. It is interesting to note that, even in such a large country as the USA, it is today acknowledged that small firms are responsible for all the net additional jobs currently being created.

Areas for discussion will include an evaluation of the US Small Business Act, innovative measures to provide small companies with greater access to venture capital and the increasing interest of small firms, in the USA, in establishing foreign contacts as part of the irreversible process of economic globalisation.

Finally, Minister Bonnici will also have meetings with representatives of a large US multinational, with whom contacts were established earlier this year. The objective is to provide additional information about Malta as a potential export base for US companies wanting to expand their sales in the European Union countries. The relatively high level of educational achievement in Malta, together with the status of English as a second National Language, are expected to be quite interesting features to US companies wishing to expand in Europe and in North Africa. The first hurdle, however, is to make Malta better known in the USA. This must be perceived as a priority, which needs to be consistently pursued.