ME launches internationalisation calender

Malta Enterprise this morning launched its internationalisation calendar with a series of events.

The calendar, launched by Finance Minister Tonio Fenech during a visit to JS Dimech in Hal Far, a company which, in the past two years, has expanded its operations to increase its workers from 46 to nearly 100, is aimed to assist local enterprises through its events, especially SMEs, in their expansion strategy.

Mr Fenech said that ME’s internationalisation events had the objective of assisting local enterprises, particularly SMEs, in their growth strategy by expanding their operations abroad.

“In this manner, we would also be assisting local enterprises to decrease their dependency on the local market.

“Moreover, through our events we also seek to promote Malta and increase the awareness about the opportunities that the country offers to foreign investors,” he said.

Mr Fenechs said that it was through such entrepreneurs that the country continued to generate employment and at 6.2 per cent, its unemployment rate was one of the lowest.

The company was also considering foreign markets, particularly Libya.

The minister said the government had allocated €350,000 for the internationalisation events, a substantial part of which would go to the participating enterprises.

ME organised meetings with foreign companies in networking events to help participants find contacts to expand their businesses. The calendar included strong European markets such as the Netherlands as well as emerging markets such as China and India.

In 2010, 155 enterprises took part in eight commercial delegations and six specialised fairs. Another 28 companies were given assistance to take part in other events in which ME was not represented.

Mr Fenech said that JS Dimech had also benefited from investment aid in the form of tax credits and assistance of €72,000 under the ERDF Innovation Grant Scheme. Through this money, the company financed part of its investment and new machinery.

The calender can be seen in the pdf link below.