Foreign direct investment (FDI) was and will remain at the heart of Malta’s economy.
The players might have changed over the last five decades. Indeed, the very nature and rules of the investment game have mutated over that time. Yet throughout it all, foreign investment never lost its pre-eminence in the general scheme of economic things in Malta.
For this reason alone, we at EY believe that a yearly stocktake of this reality is the least we could do to contribute to the country’s economic and financial well-being. We do so by going to the horse’s mouth: an annual scientific survey of current investors’ views. We pick their minds on the health of present and future investment to Malta, what attracts or deters it, whether they intend to remain here in the years to come, and much more. From their responses we draw a detailed and real time picture of how they see Malta’s legal, policy and administrative structures and what needs to be done to improve them.
In an unpredictable global market, many factors determine where investment goes. However, the key ones tend to become palpable only when a company actually sets up shop in a country. In essence, by canvassing the perceptions and views of existing investors themselves, our survey provides a deep and independent viewpoint on what sets Malta apart, for both good and bad reasons.
On these solid foundations and with data in hand we, as it were, go to the country with a national conference which attracts all the key public and private stakeholders. The conference – being held on October 7 at the Westin Dragonara – becomes a platform to analyse the crucial issues driving or holding back Malta’s attractiveness to foreign investors. It has truly become a yearly national benchmarking exercise on investment. To broaden and deepen the discussion every year we invite one or two foreign speakers of global stature.
This year we have the pleasure of hosting Peter Mandelson, one of the architects of ‘New Labour’ and a former EU commissioner, as well as Jan Peter Balkenende, a Christian Democrat who was prime minister of the Netherlands for eight years. They will be joining Malta’s Prime Minister, Opposition leader, ministers and their shadows, as well as prominent businessmen in a speakers’ line-up which exceeds the 50-mark.
We do more. Every year we theme the conference around what appears to be the most crucial real time aspects governing the debate on foreign investment. In this way, our conference is always at the cutting edge of developments – and as close to future ones as we could possibly get.
After much thought, for this year’s conference we chose the theme ‘Malta: Open for business’. That globalisation has changed market rules and goal posts is a reality we can never go back from. On the positive side, the world can truly be any country’s oyster. On the negative one, globalisation opens up even the strongest economies, let alone a miniscule one like ours, to tidal waves of competition from all four corners of the globe.
In these circumstances, being open for business is the starting point. What sort of business and how best to take it forward are the finishing line.
www.ey.com/mt/mas
Ronald Attard is the managing partner at EY Malta.