The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry will shortly be establishing a Joint Business Council.

An agreement to this effect was signed last week by Malta Chamber President Tancred Tabone and Khalifs Bin Jassim Bin Mohd Al-Thani, chairman of the Qatar Chamber in the presence of the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani.

Relations between Malta and Qatar have grown over the years and the Malta Chamber has been involved in various business missions to Qatar. In 2009 the Malta Chamber was represented during a state visit to Qatar while in 2010 it signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Qatar Chamber.

Mr Tabone said: “The business communities of Qatar and Malta felt the need to step up their relations even further and establish a co-operative body on a private initiative to facilitate continuous interaction between them so as to increase trade and economic co-operation.”

He added: “In this regard, we have agreed to set up a joint business council in order to carry out business promotional activities in trade, investment, technology transfer, services and other industrial sectors. The Council will provide a regular and recognised forum for discussion on promotion of these activities between the business communities of both countries.”

The Malta Chamber has already established four active Business Councils, the Scandinavian Business Forum, the German Maltese Business Council, the Tunisian-Maltese Business Council and the Egyptian Business Council. “We believe that Business Councils are an effective vehicle to assist companies in their internationalisation efforts and with its strong links to business, both locally and abroad, the Malta Chamber is centrally placed to establish and run these entities,” said Mr Tabone.