The Maltese-Spanish Chamber of Commerce celebrated its 5th Anniversaryrecently with an event held at the Malta Chamber of Commerce which was addressed by Minister for the Economy, Investment and Small Business, Dr Chris Cardona, H.E.José Pons, Ambassador of Spain to Malta, Mr Anton Borg, Deputy President of Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry and Mr Alfredo Munoz Perez, President of MSCC.
Mr Alfredo Munoz welcomed the participants and outlinedthe goals of the event. In his speech he explained the role played by the MSCC over the last five years, when business relations between Malta and Spain increased significantly as well as mutual awareness, and requested an effort from all players to boost trade and investments, still far behind the figures that potentially can be reached.
H.E.José Pons in his addresssaid that Spain and Malta have a long standing common history dating back at least to the 13th century and that in recent history, Spain has always supported Malta and both are nowadays faithful partners in the EU, working very hard to enhance their bilateral relations. He believes thatboth countries have many reasons to be optimistic about their future economic relations and he is convinced that, together, both countries can connect much better their people, companies and businesses.
Mr Anton Borg praised the close collaboration between the MSCC and the Malta Chamber of Commerce where both entitieshave worked together very closely for the evolution of bilateral relations over the last years.
Minister Cardona spoke about the strong historical ties between Malta and Spain which have been reinforced during the last decade in view of the mutual membership in the European Union. He said Malta is proud to host sizable Spanish investment in Malta comprising mainly pharmaceutical companies and companies which operate in the services sector which continue to show the Spain interest in the Maltese financial sector. He said it is encouraging that the Spanish government's forecast for this year's economic growth stands at 1.8% which is expected to be largely driven by increased exports, rising domestic demand and an expected record year for tourism. "It is expected that these positive developments in the Spanish economy will also positively impact our commercial relations" concluded Minister Cardona.
A discussion panel was moderated by Ms Vanessa McDonald and the panel members were Mr Angel Torres, Head of the Spanish Economic and Commercial Office for Malta, Mr Alfredo Munoz Perez, President and CEO of Middlesea Insurance p.l.c, Dr James Muscat Azzopardi, Director of Credence and Mr Mario Camilleri, CEO of Big Bon Group.