Malta’s national e-commerce strategy was launched yesterday by Parliamentary Secretary José Herrera. He said that through the strategy, the government wanted to send a clear signal that it believed in the importance of a digital economy. The strategy, he said, would guide the country for the next seven years.

He also announced a number of initiatives that will be taken to encourage Maltese businessmen to embrace and use e-commerce.

These included a directory of small and medium enterprises to encourage online sales, an action plan for trades to benefit from e-commerce, a detailed study on the use of technology by industry in the tourism and hospitality sectors, assistance to the commercial community to draw up online strategies aimed at particular sectors, mentorship programmes and seminars for small and medium enterprises.

Dr Herrera noted that while 34 per cent of the Maltese shopped on the internet five years ago, the figure had now gone up to 54 per cent. The Maltese, he said, spent around €40 million a year on internet purchases. On the other hand, only seven per cent of the Maltese bought from local sites.

This was primarily due to a lack of a Maltese business presence on the internet since only 12 per cent of local companies were online in 2013.