17 - 23 February 2000

British commercial interest in Malta 'explodes' since Helsinki

by Anthony Manduca

British commercial interest in Malta has drastically increased since the Helsinki European Union summit last December gave the go-ahead for membership negotiations to start between Malta and the EU, The Malta Business Weekly has learnt. Sources told The Malta Business Weekly that over the last two months the local British High Commission has been bombarded with requests from British companies about investment, import and export opportunities in Malta, as well as requests for general information about Malta.

It is believed that in January alone, the increase in commercial requests from British companies on Malta amounted to about 1,000 per cent compared to January 1999.

Both the British and international press gave wide coverage to the Helsinki EU summit last December and one of the summit's most important decisions was to recommend the opening of accession negotiations between the EU and six countries which had applied for membership, namely, Malta, Lithuania, Latvia, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Rumania. Negotiations began with an official ceremony in Brussels last week. It would seem that the Helsinki summit decision on enlargement put Malta on the European map and this created a greater awareness about Malta among British companies.

Britain has traditionally been one of Malta's most important trading partners and many observers believe that with Malta in the EU, commercial links between the two countries can only grow. The fact that Malta will be the third English speaking country in the EU (after the UK and Ireland) is considered as an asset.

Over the last few years the British government has considerably increased its support for Malta to be included in the next EU enlargement phase. During the 22-month Labour government in Malta, Britain also tried hard to accommodate Malta's request for a free trade zone between Malta and the EU.