Crossing Mare Nostrum

F.O.I. PRESIDENT Adrian Bajada, who headed a Malta delegation at the Mediterranean Economic Forum entitled "Crossing Mare Nostrum", delivered a presentation on investment and external trade in Malta during one of the forum's round tables.

This forum, which was held in Palermo on February 20-21, was jointly organised by Confindustria, the Union of Mediterranean Confederations of Enterprises (UMCE) of which the FOI is a founding member, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Italian Ministry for Productive Activities, the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (IFT) and the Italian Institute for Industrial Promotion (IPI).

The forum's objective was to reinforce economic integration in the region, as well as facilitating business co-operation between the Italian enterprises and the delegates of the other 13 southern Mediterranean countries taking part: Algeria, Cyprus, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Malta, Morocco, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Tunisia and Turkey.

In addition to the forum, the business operators attending the Palermo event also had the possibility to visit an industrial zone in Sicily and organise several one-to-one meetings with Italian enterprises.

Among the Italian personalities attending the meeting were Gianfranco Fini, council vice-president and Foreign Affairs Minister; Adolfo Urso, Minister of Productive Activities; Claudio Scajola, Minister of the Industry; Luca di Montezemolo, president of Confindustria; Umberto Vattani, IFT president; Maurizio Sella, president of the Italian Bank Association (IBA) and Riccardo Gallo, IPI president.

The Malta delegation, headed by Mr Bajada, consisted of FOI director general Wilfred Kenely; FOI members Joe Pace of Consolidated Biscuit Co. Ltd, Ray Vassallo of Vassallo J.M. Vibro Blocks Ltd, Ray Attard of Strand Palace Agencies Ltd, Richard Dingli of MCL Components Ltd, Spiridione Bezzina of FXB Ltd, Mario Duca of FM Environmental Ltd, and John Soler of Bank of Valletta plc; as well as journalists Vanessa MacDonald from The Times and Kurt Sansone of Malta Media, with Malta Enterprise officials Philip Micallef and Emanuel Mazzitelli.

UMCE's first Competitiveness Day was launched during this event. The focus was on the importance of the Euro-Mediterranean free trade area, as the way to establishing a stable, peaceful and prosperous Mediterranean.

In this era of globalisation, the main challenge is competitiveness, particularly with other economic regions. The Barcelona Process remains the reference framework for the achievement of this objective. Ömer Sabanci, president of UMCE and president of the Turkish Employers' Confederation (TUSIAD), announced the organisation of similar events in Spain, France, Portugal and Greece.

UMCE also held an extraordinary meeting for the presidents of its members, including Mr Bajada, which mainly focused on a joint declaration between UMCE and Confindustria, inaugurating the official membership of Confindustria in UMCE as an observing member.