CBI: 50 YEARS OF BUSINESS INNOVATION | BRITAIN AND BEYOND
AN ISLAND OF OPPORTUNITY
MALTA ENTERPRISE
www.maltaenterprise.com
Malta’s strategically valuable location at the heart of the Mediterranean Sea has led to it being ruled by successive foreign powers for millennia. Lying around 90 km south of Sicily, midway between Gibraltar and Tel Aviv, Malta is well connected to mainland Europe, North Africa and the Middle East – each of which has made an indelible impact on the island’s culture and history. An EU member since 2004, and a Eurozone member since 2008, Malta enjoys a high standard of living, relatively low youth unemployment, and a highly skilled and educated workforce.
Having gained independence from Britain in 1964, it has since attracted impressive levels of inward investment from the UK, Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the USA. It also now hosts multinationals, including Lufthansa Technik, Baxter, Trelleborg and Cardinal Health. Between 2012 and 2013, stock of foreign direct investment within the manufacturing sector increased from €799.6 million to €881.5 million, and no fewer than 17 new investment projects were approved in the first half of 2014. Much of the credit for this success goes
to Malta Enterprise, which was established in 2003 as the Maltese Government’s agency for supporting inward investment and developing Maltese businesses. “Malta is by no means a new location for foreign direct investment,”
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says Dr Mario Vella, Chairman of Malta Enterprise. “We have a long and healthy history of attracting investment via our predecessors – the Malta Development Board and the London-based Industrial Development Board.”
TECHNICAL KNOW-HOW German investment in precision mechanical engineering for the automotive industry took place in Malta from an early stage, while the supplying of aviation services dates back to the RAF’s presence in Malta in the 1940s. The island state is home to Lufthansa Technik, one of the airline’s most important repair and refurbishment centres, and a number of related clusters working in composites and nanoengineering. Other growth industries include financial services, advanced manufacturing, life sciences, ICT and creative industries. “Many people don’t realise that we are not
only, or even principally, a tourism or financial services location,” says Dr Vella. “The backbone of foreign direct investment in Malta continues to be engineering – chemical, mechanical, electrical and, increasingly, ICT engineering.” Malta has turned its smallness from a
weakness into a strength. Communication is easy, applications for incentives are processed quickly and the authorities are accessible.
The country’s high levels of productivity are a result of German investment in the 1970s and 1980s, which had a transformative effect on Malta’s businesses and workplace practices. Labour costs remain competitive in comparison to much of Europe, and the workforce continues to grow as more and more women, who are currently under-represented, choose to enter the employment market.
TALKING BUSINESS The UK, too, has left a lasting cultural legacy and, together with the Arabic-derived Maltese, English remains an official language, spoken by 90 per cent of the population. “The fact that the labour force here communicates in English at all levels, from management to shop floor, is an enormous advantage,” says Dr Vella. “This has been especially useful in high-growth areas such as IT, digital games and software production, and related activities such as producing software and gaming manuals.” For businesses looking to invest in Malta,
Malta Enterprise is the first point of contact, offering investment aid and incentives in the form of tax credits and access to finance. With a low-tax and business-friendly environment, Malta remains a magnet for foreign interest to this day.
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