Month: March 2022

I joined The Malta Chamber precisely on 1st May of last year, fully aware of the huge responsibility and challenges that the role involves. For those who might have asked why I decided to join The Malta Chamber the reasons were two-fold. The first is the fact that I always felt that I shared and related very well to the sound values and aspirations of The Malta Chamber. Secondly I felt that I could continue building on The Malta Chamber’s value through my corporate world background and policy experience.

Ten months down the line and admittedly they have been an interesting ten months. My target is to be constantly proactive, timely and relevant. The Malta Chamber is an active organisation and in order to remain relevant we need to keep our working practices in check to make sure that we are adapting to the ever changing needs of today’s business environment. Upon joining The Malta Chamber, I immediately embarked on an intensive outreach programme with our members, both individually and at section level, to make sure that I have a sound and comprehensive understanding of the issues that our businesses face as well as to learn more about their aspirations and vision. Within the first weeks I also met all our employees on a one-to-one basis to understand their strengths and listen to what they had to say about The Malta Chamber.

Policy and Member Relations – these are our flagships and what distinguishes The Malta Chamber from other organisations. In terms of policy we have given constructive feedback on all policy documents that were issued for public consultation. We put forward policy proposals on our main pillars of economic growth and resilience, governance, sustainability, infrastructure and digitalisation as well as human capital, and lobbied constantly and effectively to make sure that our proposals implemented and implemented correctly. We also set up ad hoc Working Groups to discuss and chart the way forward in respect of pressing matters such as the supply chain issue, that of third country nationals and the changes being introduced in respect of company law compliance.

With respect to Member Relations we have adapted our approach into one which is more member centric and which is intrinsically tied to B2B networking, information dissemination, issue awareness and concern addressing. We have also taken on more EU funded projects which tie in well with policy and business support. Our membership has continued to grow. Our Collaboration Alliances increased as well.

It was a challenging but very rewarding ten months. The year ahead is equally challenging. However, The Malta Chamber’s brand is a strength in itself and I am confident that together with the rest of the team, a team which is truly dedicated and hard working, we will achieve the ambitious plan that we have mapped out.

Our objective remains one – to ensure that business keeps on thriving, irrespective of its size or sector it operates in. The Malta Chamber is here to help business achieve more, beyond whatever one could ever achieve alone. We remain committed to help business re-engineer itself and adapt to the new realities and the everchanging customer behaviour, whilst also continuing to be the positive influence in policy formation, both at national and european level. We remain committed to being on top of issues and responding in a proactive, timely and relevant manner.

I urge our members and the business community to reach out to us – we are your voice and fully committed to promote, encourage and facilitate trade, commerce and investment.

Last but not least, I would like to thank all our Gold and Bronze sponsors without whose support we would not have been able to reach the heights that we did.

Read the full version of the Annual Report 2021/2022 here.

The Following is the address given by President Marisa Xuereb at The Malta Chamber 2022 AGM.

Members of The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry,
The true and vibrant voice of the Maltese business community that will celebrate 175 years of solid representation in a year’s time.

Welcome to the Main Hall of The Malta Chamber, which has just completed the first phase of its refurbishment. The paint is still fresh, the original parquet flooring newly polished, and one of the most important collections of portraits in Valletta is back in its place, adorning the walls of this hall of priceless historical value. The subjects of these portraits are gentlemen who have given a huge contribution to the development of business in Malta – and the country as a whole – over the past 175 years. The role of The Malta Chamber, il-Kamra tal-Kummerc, the only business organisation established by the Commercial Code of Malta is as important today as it was throughout these years. Times change, new challenges present themselves, but this organisation remains extremely relevant, also because it stays ahead of the times. That is why the gender composition of the table in front of you is very different from that of the walls surrounding us. We are also proud of this, proud of the fact that The Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry is today the most gender diverse organisations sitting around the MCESD table. The loyalty and pride of the most senior of our respectable members is today matched by the energy and enthusiasm of our younger members – the entrepreneurs that are shaping our country’s future.

The Malta Chamber today is the business community’s interlocutor with all Governmental authorities, with all political parties, with all resident and non-resident embassies, with all academic institutions, and with all media houses. We are attracting some of the best talent in business, policymaking and communications. And when they start working with us, they flourish because there is real fire in this organisation. Businesses that want to make a real difference in this country approach us not just to become members, but also to sponsor our policy work and the various events we organise to bring people together and project the voice of business. The relentless pace with which we are operating today, in terms of both the breadth of what we do and the depth of engagement, not only with the business community and relevant authorities, but also with various sections of society, is delivering results. The Malta Chamber today is highly visible in the media, but what people see out there is only the tip of the iceberg of what is actually happening here and within our business. A lot of the work we do today, we will reap the results of in future years.

The Malta Chamber today speaks clearly, and with conviction. Significant investment in terms of thought, time and energy has gone into shaping our policy positions on several fronts, and we continue to renew this every day so that we remain ahead of the policy curve. We do not only react to what matters for business, but we are on the lookout to anticipate relevant developments such that we can truly influence policy and set the agenda. Business needs to be in the driving seat. And business needs to communicate and inspire all sections of society.

Our Council is committed and aligned. We have had 20 Council Meetings and 17 Board of Management Meetings in the last 12 months. All 19 Council members have attended more than 75 % of these meetings – most more than 90%. Our staff is working round the clock. We may close the front door at 5pm, but you will catch several of them slipping out through the back door at least a couple of hours later – as happens in our own business organisations. And they love their work. They do it with passion and they do it with pride. They own their job.

With this level of commitment and enthusiasm, from members, sponsors and staff alike, it is possible to achieve a lot even with a relatively small staff complement of 20 people. The results that will be presented today are testament to this. I have to commend, not only the sterling work of our staff, but also the generous contribution members of ours who serve on Council, on the Executive Boards of our Economic Groups and Business Sections, on our Thematic Committees, and on the various Boards of entities on which the Malta Chamber is represented. Our engagement today in many of these Boards, as well as on the Boards of the Malta Business Bureau, and our PPPs: TradeMalta, TechMT and Education Malta, is active and aligned with the policy priorities of The Chamber. Our representatives on these Boards are active members who are constantly in the loop of our internal communications. And while our membership base grows every day, the level of engagement of our members who are constantly engaging to contribute towards policy formulation and representation of their sector keeps growing.

At a time when the challenges for business seem to multiply with each turn of global events, we do well to stand together within the structures of this respected organisation and its landmark building. A lot of work is happening also on the building so that it is truly reflective of the stature of this organisation and it can serve the needs of the business community well. This includes developing the full potential of the building for business networking and positioning it as a historic building that is constantly working towards reducing its carbon footprint while preserving its unique character: things that we constantly say in our policy contributions on sustainability. We practice what we preech.

In a similar way, we are also engaging actively with the upcoming generation. We constantly say that education is the key to the future of our businesses, and that education is much broader than schooling, and we are involving ourselves in the broader process of education through various forms of interaction with young people. Our own Young Chamber Network for members under 40 is gaining ground and we have recently launched a Global Shapers Hub under the umbrella of the World Economic Forum for youths 18-30 who have the potential to inspire change. Our engagement with educational institutions, particularly the University of Malta and MCAST, is also gaining momentum. We are at the forefront of promoting industry-academia collaboration in both research and vocational education.

We are also proud to be an unwielding voice on good governance and sustainability. Our positions on these matters are clear and consistent. The Malta Chamber will continue to be the voice of ethical business because we believe in fair competition, in doing business on a level playing field. And we are also working hard on this within the European dimension, where we have renewed The Chamber’s engagement on the challenges of operating from a mirco island state within the single market.

We have also just taken the first steps to revive the Malta Chamber Foundation, conscious of the legitimate expectations of some of our members that we engage more in philanthropic initiatives. The extent to which all these initiatives will be effective depends greatly on the engagement of our members. I therefore urge you all to activately contribution to the work of The Chamber and to make the best possible use of this platform and of the connections and resources we have. The door of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry is wide open for business and our staff will be knocking on your doors if we don’t see you around because the mission is clear: to support, represent and connect businesses to grow and engage in shaping Malta’s future.

Special thanks goes to the Board of Management, especially Deputy President Chris Vassallo Cesareo, Vice-President Liz Barbaro Sant and Vice-President Nick Xuereb, and to our CEO Dr Marthese Portelli, for their sterling commitment to their respective roles. It has been a real pleasure to work with you this year and I look forward to working with you for another year as we continue this journey together. I am also confident that with such a strong team at the helm of The Chamber, this organisation will continue growing from strength to strength in the foreseeable future.

2021 was very much a year of reckoning. It started off with all the hope that the delivery of the first batches of a Covid vaccine brought, particularly to the more vulnerable segments of the population. But by mid-March case numbers and hospitalisations had reach such alarming levels that we went into a second partial lockdown overnight. As summer approached, it was clear that we had to rely on vaccines to contain the pandemic, and that business had to operate, even if with some restrictions, if we wanted them to survive. The Chamber supported several business sectors with negotiating workable compromises and with securing the necessary financial support to survive this difficult period. A long list of recommendations, including many sector-specific measures, were put forward in The Chamber’s budget proposals for 2022, and several were taken up by Government. It became apparent that a major rethink of our tourism industry was required, and The Chamber embarked on the drafting of ‘Rediscover: a New Vision for the Tourism Industry in Malta’ that was published in November 2021.

While we looked to the summer with some optimism, FATF’s decision to greylist Malta meant that there was another fire to extinguish. The broad consensus was that the impact of this could be contained in the short-term, but that getting off the list as quickly as possible was of paramount importance. The banks, the Malta Business Registry and the FIAU ramped up their efforts to enforce compliance requirements to address the concerns of effective implementation of an otherwise solid legal and regulatory framework raised by the FATF. Financial service practitioners were overwhelmed, and compliance costs shot up for just about every business. The Chamber was very much engaged in assisting both the authorities and businesses, particularly corporate service providers, in understanding the challenges on either side, and in implementing systems and procedures that were sensible, consistent, and clearly communicated.

Manufacturers and importers struggled with supply-side bottlenecks that saw transport costs spike to unprecedented levels, while lead times grew longer and more unpredictable. The impact of Brexit added salt to this wound. Costs of raw materials were next to shoot up, as business scrambled to secure supplies against the backdrop of global shortages in key raw materials and critical components such as microchips. The Chamber maintained open dialogue between manufacturers and importers, and logistics companies, ensuring that all parties understood the challenges ahead and took the necessary measures to minimise the risk of disruption to their business and to factor in the anticipated increases in costs in their pricing strategies.

The world economy was recovering from the deepest recession in recent history in record time. Labour shortages became the next challenge for economic recovery, particularly since third countries were still grappling with high Covid numbers and low vaccination rates while more advanced economies were trying to ramp up their output. In August 2021, the Chamber published its position on a ‘National Workforce Strategy’, a document that provides an array of policy recommendations to attract, retain, upskill and nurture talent – undoubtedly one of the key challenges today and in the years to come.

Energy costs were the next sore point, as Europe found itself having to settle for an energy taxonomy that includes both nuclear and gas while Russia kept tabs on its gas deliveries to Europe against the backdrop of rising tensions with Ukraine. By the end of 2021, inflation was Europe’s major headache. Locally, the prospect of a hedging agreement for gas that runs up to March 2022 presented a major fiscal and political challenge. The Government’s commitment to subsidise energy costs for both households and businesses for as long as possible, together with the proposal to introduce a Government-funded compensatory mechanism for those whose living standards will be compromised by abnormally high increases in the cost of living, are key to ensuring that we do not enter into an inflationary spiral that will compromise long-term competitiveness. The Chamber was actively engaged in discussions with Government and other constituted bodies throughout 2021 to ensure that these challenges are managed with reasonableness and due consideration to competitiveness.

While all this was happening, the OECD managed to secure the commitment of every country that matters for a minimum tax rate of 15% for multinationals having an annual turnover in excess of €750 million. The implementation of this will necessitate a rethink of Malta’s corporate tax framework, the development of a new strategy to attract FDI and a repositioning of our financial services industry. The Chamber is, and will continue to be, at the forefront of discussions on these matters to ensure that Malta continues to be an attractive location for business.

Read the full version of the Annual Report 2021/2022 here. 

Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar together with Charter endorsers The Malta Chamber, Kamra tal-Periti, General Workers’ Union and Malta Union of Tourist Guides, today launched their environment Charter which has been presented to all political parties and candidates and is supported by 7 social partners, 14 eNGOs and 9 local councils.

Speaking for FAA, Prof Louis Naudi explained that the Charter’s aim is to get our politicians to commit to measures to halt the ongoing destruction of our environment and the consequent diminishing quality of life for Malta’s residents. Although aware of this, this administration does not admit to it, hoodwinking the public with policies that focus on economic factors and weak laws full of loopholes, undermining quality of life.

Successive governments in Malta have trumpeted their mission to improve the quality of life for its citizens, using GDP based on numbers – cars, tourists, permits or property sales, income etc as a benchmark, without admitting that quality of life is more than just economic standards; it includes what people value in life, beyond material aspects.

Property development projects are about more than buildings; construction indisputably has impacts but the social costs and are buried, not calculated. Key adverse impacts are damage to nature and built environment, air and noise pollution from construction, heavy vehicles and increased traffic, prolonged closure of road spaces; detours; road and worker safety problems.

Prof Naudi quoted the 2021 EY Generate Youth Survey, where 9 out of 10 felt that our biggest challenge is the deteriorating environment and overdevelopment. Almost two-thirds indicated they would prefer to live elsewhere in Europe. Similarly, in the Expat Insider survey 2021, Malta ranked 56th out of 59 for the quality of the environment.

The Charter also stresses that government has a legal obligation to protect the common interest of citizens when this collides with individual private or business interests. People have a legal right to enjoy a healthy and pollution-free environment, while public assets – including land, coast, sea and cultural heritage – should remain public unless a fixed temporary concession could serve to meaningfully improve the area and not be open for financial gain or exploitation.

Ms Marisa Xuereb, President of The Malta Chamber said that for years we have assumed that economic development must necessarily come at the cost of sacrificing the environment, but there are ways to progress without furthering the destruction of the environment and cultural heritage of our islands.

Speaking about tourism, Ms Xuereb asserted that tourism needs to focus on quality rather than quantity to be sustainable. This is especially true of Gozo which has so far avoided going down the path of mass tourism. If large development projects ruin its charm and make it an extension of Malta, Gozo’s unique tourism preposition will be irreversibly destroyed.

Malta’s economy is increasingly dependent on foreign workers. However the relocation decisions of highly skilled employees do not only depend on job opportunities but also on the quality of life the country offers. Maltese youths gain a lot from foreign work experience, but in order to attract them back once they’ve gained experience, and reverse the brain drain, we need to offer a better Malta than they left. Malta must embrace economic growth that enhances, not detracts from our country.

Malta’s economy is increasingly dependent on foreign workers. However, the relocation decisions of highly skilled employees do not only depend on job opportunities but also on the quality of life the country offers. Maltese youths gain a lot from foreign work experience, but in order to attract them back once they’ve gained experience, and reverse the brain drain, we need to offer a better Malta than they left. Malta must embrace economic growth that enhances, not detracts from our country.

Perit Andre Pizzuto of the Chamber of Architects welcomed the opportunity to position quality of life as a priority. He had strong words for the urban planning of the past 50 years, which he termed “a series of mistaken decisions” which has led to the present degradation of our environment. “Attracting high-worth individuals is not going to be achieved by destroying the value of our country, our cultural and environmental heritage”.

Perit Pizzuto maintained that although both of the main parties claim to be promoting environmental values, their manifestos fall far short of the wholesale reform in planning that is needed.

Mr Paul Spiteri, Treasurer of the Malta Union of Tourist Guides stated that while certain parts of Malta, such as Valletta and the Three Cities, have great appeal, tourists’ experience in places like Bugibba are much less positive and this needs to be reversed, rather than spreading to other areas.

Astrid Vella, Coordinator of Flimkien għal Ambjent Aħjar concluded by saying that the non-political nature of the Charter was reflected in the fact that its endorsers span the political spectrum. She maintained that a poor environment undermines workers’ health while increasing the nation’s public health spending. The granting of so many permits for luxury developments while young couples can’t find accommodation they can afford is a further environmental injustice.

Ms Vella confirmed that the Charter has been endorsed by the PN, ADPD, Volt and independent candidate Arnold Cassola, who have committed to implementing it if elected to Parliament, however the very party that is promoting an environmental manifesto, the Labour Party, has made no attempt to endorse it. Flimkien ghal Ambjent Ahjar calls on government to recognise and put its signature to the charter, which is non partisan and supported by all segments of politics and society.

Whilst progress has been achieved since the launch of the pension reform programme in 2004, much is yet to be done to secure the pension system’s adequacy, solidarity, and sustainability. The Malta Chamber and the General Workers’ Union have agreed to work together to present to the government and for national discussions, common positions reached on key pension reforms.

The Malta Chamber and the Union recommend that the government should adopt the following measures to increase the active employment of senior citizens and thus achieve the EU and national objectives relating to active ageing:

(a) The existing ‘all or nothing approach’ to early retirement is replaced by a Flexi-employment approach, which allows a person to balance their needs to opt-out of a 40 hour week whilst remaining active in the labour market. To ensure that such a Flexi-employment approach does not become an exit route from retiring at the statutory retirement age, it is suggested that this is governed by conditions that may include:

(i) The pension to be drawn down should the person opt for early retirement at the age of 61 years of age whilst continuing to work pro-rated, for example, as follows:

– Retiring at 61 years of age, the pension income entitled to is pro-rated at 50%.
– Retiring at 62 years of age, the pension income entitled to is pro-rated at 60%.
– Retiring at 63 years of age, the pension income entitled to is pro-rated at 70%.
– Retiring at 64 years of age, the pension income entitled to is pro-rated at 85%.

(ii) A person who selects a Flexi-employment approach to retirement must work for a minimum set of hours established through a formal contract between them and their employers and employment registration with Job plus to benefit from the drawing down of the retirement pension.

(b) The top-up incentive mechanism, whilst proving to be successful, is based on a negative actuarial rate. This should be replaced by a positive actuarial rate so that more persons are incentivised to remain fully active in the labour market and defer the drawn down of their pension.

(c) Recommendation 14 presented in the 2015 Strategic Review report that recommends the introduction of a mechanism to incentivise the deferral of retirement age so that a person aged 65 and over remains active in the labour market should be implemented by the government – albeit at a far more aggressively positive actuarial rate than proposed by the Pension Strategy group.

(d) The tax structure for senior citizens who receive income from continued post-retirement employment and pension income should be re-designed. It should become an incentive rather than acting as a detriment to continued active employment.

Both The Malta Chamber and the Union strongly underline that a carefully designed workplace pension based on the principles of opt-in on employment with the choice of opt-out is introduced in Malta. Such voluntary opt-in on employment pensions schemes with the choice of an opt-out can be designed in a manner that creates no social tensions or adverse impacts on both employers and employers. This can be achieved by adopting the following design principles:

(a) As is the case today, employers are nudged to contribute on behalf of their employees based on a fiscal incentive (that is, no mandatory contribution) and through collective bargaining.

(b) Employees earning below a certain income are excluded from opt-in on employment so that no negative pressures are placed on their disposal income, though they will maintain their right to opt-in should they wish.

(c) Each employee will have the right to opt-out or suspend their contribution.

(d) The contribution that an employee will pay, which will continue to be subject to a fiscal incentive, will be the annual minimum requested by the pension provider selected by the employer or that selected by the employee.

(e) The only obligation to be placed on the employer is that of presenting information on retirement on the engagement of an employee, enrolling an employee in the pension provider selected by it or that chosen by an employee, managing the monthly contribution payment deducted from the employee’s wage; and transferrin this contribution to the selected pension scheme provider.

(f) The pension scheme is introduced incrementally over five years, initially targeting large employers and subsequently rolling it out to micro and small enterprises.

Today, The Malta Chamber hosted the third leaders’ debate of the election campaign 2022 between Prime Minister Robert Abela and Leader of the Opposition Bernard Grech before Malta heads to the polls on 26 March. They addressed local business leaders and entrepreneurs at The Malta Chamber’s Courtyard. 

Watch the full debate here.

The debate was moderated by Rachel Attard, Media and Communication Strategist at The Malta Chamber.

It was sponsored by Laferla.