Last week Andy Gatesy, chairman and chief executive of Toly Products Ltd and a council member of the Malta Federation of Industry welcomed Censu Galea, Minister for Competitiveness and Communi-cations, to visit Toly Products Ltd in the presence of FOI president Anton Borg.

During the visit, Mr Gatesy introduced the company and its developments to the Minister, explaining that although the company remained a family business, it employed approximately 400 people in the Malta-based plant and is part of an international operation with sales offices in London, New York, Paris and Belgium. The Malta-based head office spearheaded the future prosperity of the group. Mr Gatesy also reported that the current situation was not easily reached for it required a clear strategy, extensive investment (Lm6 million in just the past six years) and a lot of hard work and commitment from all those that work for Toly. The company's managing director emphasised that his customers expected price reductions on a year-on-year basis and a shorter lead-time to deliver products to market. No wonder that satisfying Toly's customers is the company's biggest challenge, Mr Gatesy said.

Mr Gatesy concluded his address by stating that Toly's plans were not to take business out of Malta so as to support Malta's economy. However, the company, as was the case with a number of manufacturing companies, ask that the government recognise this and did its utmost to help maintain a competitive environment for continued manufacturing in Malta. If not, companies such as Toly would look elsewhere to maintain their customer base and profitability, Mr Gatesy.

The FOI president, together with other industrialists invited to this event, highlighted a number of industry-related issues, including the relatively recent problem about shipping from the Freeport, where several companies have found difficulties caused by several instances of freight ships bypassing Malta. In fact, industrialists noted that with foreign direct investment being attracted to Malta due to its strategic location, having such an issue at Malta's ports, puts to question whether Malta's location is any longer strategic.

The Minister was urged to stress this message clearly to the Cabinet, that if Malta does not cut back on its current state of bureaucracy and develop a better framework for industry, companies such as Toly would have no option but to start looking elsewhere to develop their business.

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