The strategic business and investment opportunities offered by Malta were presented to an audience of Catalan businesses during a special seminar held recently at the Foment de Treball Nacional headquarters in Barcelona.

The Maltese delegation was led by Malta’s Ambassador in Spain Tanya Vella, who highlighted the key strengths of the country, such as its strategic location, the flexible and agile market, the availability of multilingual and highly-skilled professionals as well as an advantageous tax system.

Malta Enterprise’s regional leader in Spain Claire Azzopardi then delivered an extensive overview of Malta’s economic realities as well as the key investment opportunities and incentive packages available to investors, with particular attention to how Catalan businesses may benefit from doing business in Malta.

Such opportunities for trade and investment are present within sectors of strategic importance for both the Maltese government as well as the Catalan business community, such as the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, information technology, health and medical services, transportation, logistics and financial services.

The Catalan businesses were also given a first-hand testimony of doing business in and investing in Malta by Elisabeth Stampa, a member on the board of Medichem Corporation, a Spanish company with successful operations in Malta’s pharmaceutical industry.

The seminar was brought to a close with a series of one-to-one meetings between the Malta Enterprise representatives and the Catalan businesses, which gave the businesses the opportunity to obtain further information on any queries about Malta’s business environment.

In 2011, Catalonia exported €71.15 million worth of goods to Malta, which represents 33 percent of Spanish exports to the country. According to data presented by ICEX, the Spanish Institute for Exterior Trade, a total of 603 Catalan companies exported to Malta during that year, with 262 companies doing so on a regular basis and over a sustained period of time.