The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry has been awarded first prize in the National Enterprise Support Awards 2011, an event sponsored by the government and the European Commission, in recognition of those entities and organisations who have made exceptional efforts to assist SMEs.

The Malta Chamber was awarded for its internationalisation project entitled ‘Enhancing Regional Chamber Networks in the Euro-Med Region’. This project is supported by the Malta Business Bureau and FimBank.

Following this award, the Malta Chamber will also be representing Malta with this project at the European Enterprise Support Awards in October.

Through this project, the Malta Chamber has so far established nodes in a number of European and North African countries. This year, these ties are being strengthened further, exploiting them with active measures to support the Malta Chamber’s objective to help members expand their businesses abroad. As part of this project, the Malta Chamber has also renewed its active participation in ASCAME – the network of Mediterranean Chambers in which each country is represented by a regional Chamber.

“The reason for the Malta Chamber to exist is to support the local business community,” said Chamber president Tancred Tabone. He added: “We accept this award with great pride as it gives official recognition to the fact that the Malta Chamber leads the way in supporting entrepreneurs.”