The Malta Chamber sees in China a strong partner that provides Maltese businesses with immense opportunities on both import and export directions.
This was stated by Frank V. Farrugia, president of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry, during a promotional event of the 125th edition of the Canton Fair and China International Import Expo (CIIE) 2019, organised earlier this week by Malta Chamber, together with Trade Malta, in collaboration with the Economic and Commercial Counsellor’s office of the Embassy of China in Malta and the China Foreign Trade Centre.
The event provided practical information about two important business fairs, elaborating how such occasions create an open platform for international cooperation where all business people from all countries, including Maltese, may meet in one place and share their experiences in a spirit of commercial collaboration.
The promotion event was addressed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Promotion Carmelo Abela by means of a video message in his absence due to official business abroad. Jiang Jiang, Ambassador for the People’s Republic of China in Malta, and Xu Bing, vice president of the China Foreign Trade Centre, also addressed the participants.
They explained how China is moving from rapid growth to high quality production, providing fertile ground for business matchmaking opportunities.
This statement was supported by Malta Chamber president, who remarked that the Chinese economy has shifted from the stage of high-speed growth to that of high-quality development; adding that the future of the world economy will depend directly on what China does or does not do.
He also mentioned that the Malta Chamber has signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade towards the end of last year, aimed to facilitate support for businesses through cooperation plans, exchange of information, organisation of business match-making opportunities and jointly undertake skills and capacity building initiatives.
During the event, Moira Attard, director general at the Ministry for European Affairs and Equality, encouraged interested companies to make use of the SME Internationalisation Grant scheme, an EU co-funded grant scheme, to support Malta-based companies to exhibit their products and solutions during overseas business fairs.
Furthermore, a cooperation agreement between the China Foreign Trade Centre and the Maltese-Chinese Chamber of Commerce was renewed, promoting measures aimed to increase investment opportunities between the two nations.
Very shortly, Trade Malta will be issuing an expression of interest for Malta-based companies that are interested to participate in the China International Import Expo 2019 due to be held in November in Shanghai.