Malta is being increasingly seen as a base for foreign companies waiting to pick up contracts in Libya, catching the attention of the Germans and the British.

Scores of German companies attended a seminar in Berlin last July – organised by the Libyan Maltese Chamber of Commerce, the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the German-African Business Association, around a dozen of whom then attended a recent reciprocal seminar in Malta. And the LMCC chairman Tonio Casapinta said they were already getting signals from other countries, and a similar event was being held in November with the Libyan British Business Council.

The main objective of the German-African Business Association is to stimulate trade between Germany and the African states. Until 2010, Libya was one of Germany’s most important trade partners with about €4 billion in trade and 40 companies present in Libya.

Association CEO Christoph Kannengiesser said that although no one could forecast when stability would return to Libya, it was important to start preparing for that day, using this time to build up new contacts.

“We do not know how the political situation will develop over the months to come but there is hope that political stabilisation is underway and that by the end of the year, things will be much better than now.

“We believe it makes sense to be the first there. And we thought it was a very good idea to do that with our European partner Malta, a country which is very close to Libya with a very good knowledge of the market. There are also many Libyans living in Malta and many Maltese active in Libya,” he told The Business Observer, noting that German companies could use Malta as a safe and easily-accessible base.

He noted that there were already funds available through the international community which could be used by German companies when the inevitable reconstruction of Libya started.

There is hope that political stabilisation is underway

“Business always takes place, even in countries in crisis. In the African continent, where we are active, business activities takes place without governmental structures,” he shrugged. “A lot of companies are used to working under these difficult scenarios. In Libya, the problem is that the security is not yet guaranteed all over the country which makes a physical presence difficult. No German company would send its staff there as no insurance would cover it and no compliance officer would accept it – although medium-sized companies are much less risk-averse.

Former German Ambassador to Malta Klaus Peter Brandes noted that the flexibility and the long standing relations of Malta with Libya – historically, politically and economically – combined with the German potential, made a compelling argument.

“There are numerous companies interested in the reconstruction of Libya. This has to be done for humanitarian reasons because we are not going to have political stability unless there is also economic progress. You cannot have one without the other. Think of the movements from south of the Sahara to Europe,” Mr Brandes said.

Mr Casapinta said Malta had much to offer both the Germans and the Libyans. “We can offer our location and a safe background – they can base their families here and transit to Libya. Also we have connections with Maltese companies which understand the Libyan mentality and which are prepared to wait for an order to come – as once it does, it is large enough to be worth the wait!”

Mr Casapinta also praised the role of the chamber, which had set up a task force and had meetings with government and Malta Enterprise to lobby for assistance for the 200-250 companies affected by the crisis.

“All the employees brought back from Libya have found jobs in Malta... no one was left unemployed because of the crisis. Thank heavens we were in a position economically to do so!

“There will be so much reconstruction work in Libya: there are places which are completely devastated. So there will be a lot of work in security and construction, education, health, utilities and of course more oil. We are planning for a hopeful future, whenever it is,” he concluded.