SMEs to get help on exports

The 2010 budget will continue to sustain Malta's overall competitiveness and provide small enterprises with help to export, Finance Minister Tonio Fenech told the business community yesterday.

Mr Fenech said the government had to continue supporting businesses who wanted to expand because the country stood to gain in the process.

He was addressing a conference organised by the Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry on internationalisation.

He said the budget would also carry forward the focus on education to meet the challenges being faced by enterprises.

"We are envisaging a budget package that continues to concentrate on education and the upgrading of the existing human resource base of the Maltese economy and in the development of new academic and vocational skills to meet the increasing challenges faced by industry and enterprise in the global marketplace."

Many SMEs would probably not consider internationalisation if it were not because of this support, he said, adding that many businesses remained focused on the local market.

Mr Fenech said: "We seem to have failed to fully embrace the realisation that the world is our marketplace. Five years after EU membership, the reality and potential of the single European market has not yet hit home. The main reasons for this would include lack of skills and financial resources."

These concerns, he said, would be addressed in the forthcoming budget which would encompass policies to ensure entrepreneurs and companies had access to the appropriate support required at different stages of their development.

"The fundamental aims of the 2010 Budget, jobs, growth and social cohesion, go hand in hand with competitiveness and internationalisation," he said.

Addressing the conference, Malta Enterprise chairman Alan Camilleri said now was the time to discuss such a subject because the recession would soon be overcome and business confidence would start to improve while trade and investment would revive.

Mr Camilleri said the excessive bureaucracy and red tape businesses were still facing was "unacceptable", adding that Malta Enterprise was getting more involved in finding solutions to these problems.

Among other measures, Malta Enterprise was absorbing the government's online services for businesses and would create a business service bureau to help entrepreneurs.