Just 90 minutes from home and you have the full benefits of the single market, where the economy of scale means a notable increase in your purchasing power and retail profits.

It doesn’t take an economist to work this one out, although economists did work it out, in theory, years back. Now it is the turn of the proverbial man in the street, who goes for value for money and dictates the market.

The world is a village, and globalisation is the name of the game. Of course, a country with a population of just over 400,000 is hardly a candidate to take this process forward.

However, local companies are seeing the advantages of commercial joint ventures with Sicilian counterparts. Thinking globally is overstating the case but thinking single market, with a population of 505 million, is forward thinking.

Importers and wholesalers in Sicily are crying out for joint ventures and selling outside their own immediate market.

Cut your costs, do your commercial purchasing and warehousing in Sicily, and retail in Malta. Give the so called the Maltese consumer the good retail prices he wants; he is, after all, a price conscious European consumer who can shop around in the single market.

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