Economy Minister Chris Cardona and the man he entrusted with attracting foreign direct investment hold differing views on how to brand the island.

While Dr Cardona yesterday said Malta should have a single image to heighten the island’s profile abroad, the head of Malta Enterprise, Mario Vella, felt that was not suitable when trying to attract investment in different economic sectors.

Both were speaking during a discussion panel on foreign direct investment as part of a day-long conference organised by EY.

Dr Cardona said Malta lacked visibility abroad, citing Qatar and South Africa as examples of countries that invested heavily in a single brand that upped their profile. He lamented the “disjointed” efforts of various agencies.

But Dr Vella insisted none of the large, industrial companies came to Malta because of “an advert”.

“They came here because we knew what door to knock on, who to speak to and what to offer them by way of incentives.”

He later softened his stand, insisting that having a core image was good as long as it was accompanied by “a tapestry” of characteristics that projected a different message to the various sectors Malta wanted to target.

More on Times of Malta and the e-paper on timesofmalta.com Premium.