Finance Minister Tonio Fenech will this morning address a business forum at the Czech Chamber of Commerce in Prague.
The event, organised in collaboration with Malta Enterprise, will focus on bilateral economic relations and trade and investment opportunities.
Mr Fenech is accompanied by a trade delegation made up of representatives of 25 Maltese businesses and organisations, including Malta Enterprise, Finance Malta, the Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Enterprise, the Malta Tourism Authority, and the Czech Republic's honorary consul in Malta Tonio Casapinta.
The delegation includes officials and owners of a cross-section of Maltese businesses, including pharmaceutical, renewable energy, marine, real estate, shipping, recruitment, tourism, food, financial services, and English language tuition firms.
They seek opportunities in export, trading, joint ventures, consultancy and technology transfers. The delegation's visit is supported by HSBC Bank Malta under its Leading International Business programme and Corinthia Group, which owns a premier hotel property in Prague, where the group is staying.
The morning programme for the business forum includes addresses by the Czech Chamber of Commerce's director of foreign relations Zdenek Kocarek and official Lenka Tycova, Ministry of Trade and Industry official Lubos Joza, and Oldrich Dubsky of the CzechInvest Agency.
Malta Enterprise chairman Alan Camilleri, and the MTA's Ernest Flamini, who is also Malta's honorary consul in the Czech Republic, will also address the forum before three hours of bilateral meetings between business people begin. Business meetings with Czech companies continue tomorrow.
Later on this morning, Mr Fenech will meet Milan Hovorka, the Deputy Minister for Industry and Trade.
The Czech Republic currently holds the EU Presidency.
Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi visited the Czech Republic in December, when Czech plans for euro adoption and the importance of maintaining the French Presidency's momentum on the Immigration Pact were discussed. Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek had described Maltese-Czech relations as flawless but said the countries needed to improve their trade exchanges.