In recent years, America has focused on supporting US business activity overseas and in driving recovery in the US to provide a strong foundation to strength-en and sustain its key role in the global economy.

At least one out of every 50 Maltese workers’ jobs was created by the economic activity of an American company- Michael R. DeTar

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton labels this mission “Economic Statecraft.” She has directed our embassies to make every effort to open markets and to identify new customers for American products and services.

However, Economic Statecraft is not solely focused on growing the US economy. President Obama has set a goal of doubling America’s exports over five years, recognising that America’s economic strength and global leadership will benefit not just the American people, but people everywhere.

Our economies are interdependent as never before, and so are our fates. America’s economic renewal depends to a large degree on the strength of the global economy, just as the global economy depends on the strength of America.

One of our core goals for the US Embassy in Malta is to ensure that commercial relations between our two countries can grow and profit both our countries.

The US is now, besides the EU, Malta’s third largest trading partner. President Obama’s National Export Initiative continues to be an important priority to the Embassy, which can help small- and medium-sized businesses on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea increase their business and strengthen US-Malta trade relations.

Many of you reading this article may not know that American firms’ direct subsidiaries in Malta employ over 2,000 people.

That figure does not include those who are employed by US brand franchises. In other words, at least one out of every 50 Maltese workers’ jobs was created by the economic activity of an American company. We hope to increase that number.

The US Embassy also helps local authorities protect legitimate commerce from unfair competition by providing resources to combat cybercrime and fraud and to ensure compliance with intellectual property rights legislation in an effort to attract foreign investment to the island.

We continue to work with the government of Malta to ensure that public procurement of products and services is open to all, and that bids on such tenders enjoy a “level playing field”.

The US Embassy is proud that several American firms in Malta have made extraordinary efforts to achieve efficiencies through sustainability programmes, while improving the environment of their workers, their customers, their communities and the world.

The US is committed to a global economic system that is open, free, transparent, and fair. We are working to institutionalise those norms in regional and global trade agreements and institutions. We also advocate reforms that allow more people in more places to participate in the economy – especially women, who represent an enormous un­tapped economic potential, but are still marginalised in many markets.

US Economic Statecraft in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), is successfully strengthening and modernising economic institutions, particularly in Libya, Tunisia and Egypt – countries where we believe that US and Maltese business can work together to help rebuild and profit from increased commercial activity. We realise that the modernisation of the MENA economies will require a stronger private sector. The US is supporting political reforms underway which will help guarantee regional stability and attract exporters and investors.

We are committed to working with our international counterparts on a reorientation of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to support countries in the region. That Bank played a crucial role in the democratisation and economic transition in Central and Eastern Europe, and can make an important contribution in MENA countries as well.

We also seek to establish Egyptian-American and Tunisian-American Enterprise Funds to stimulate private sector investment, to promote projects and procedures that support competitive markets, and to encourage public/private partnerships.

In addition, as Secretary Clinton recently announced in Cairo, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation will provide up to $2 billion in private sector financing throughout the MENA region.

America’s economic growth and international competitiveness depend on our ability to innovate.

This premise applies to economies all over the world. We must create jobs and new industries by investing in the creativity and imagination of our people.

Together with Malta and its other international partners, the US must innovate, educate, and promote entrepreneurship to ensure that all nations achieve rapid, sustained and broad-based economic growth.

Mr DeTar is Chargé d’Affaires a.i. at the US Embassy in Malta.

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