Dr Zammit Dimech met with Hans Niessl, prime minister of Burgenland, Austria; Walther Prior, president and speaker of the Burgenland parliament; and Michaela Resetar, Burgenland tourism minister.

Dr Zammit Dimech spoke of Malta’s excellent relations with Austria, with Austrian investment to our country on the increase. He said seven Austrian banks and six Austrian companies were operating in Malta.

He added that the Malta Mediterranean Link Consortium Limited, of which Flughafen Wien AG is one of the partners, forms part of the management of Malta International Airport and has plans for a further investment of $250 million in the development of Malta’s airport as a business park.

He noted that while in 1990, 12,109 Austrian tourists visited Malta, the figure went up to 15,909 in 1996 and 28,416 last year.

Dr Zammit Dimech said that while Malta is strategically placed in the centre of the Mediterranean, the southernmost part of Europe, Austria is a landlocked country in the centre of continental Europe.

He added that European Union membership should boost our diplomatic and commercial relations with Austria using our airport and Freeport facilities to penetrate the African market.

He said Malta’s airport can also serve as a transit airport for Austrian airlines flying to African countries.

Dr Zammit Dimech augured further collaboration between Malta and Austria in all fields, especially with regard to tourism and culture.

He added that Burgenlan’s experience after 10 years of benefiting from EU Structural and Cohesion funds – especially for the tourism industry – was relevant for Malta which has, like Burgenland, been accepted as an Objective One region within the EU.

Mr Niessl, Mr Prior and Ms Resetar said their experience of EU membership since Austria joined in 1995 was very positive.

Mr Niessl added that since Austria’s EU accession, with Burgenland recognised as an Objective One region, S2.4 billion was invested in that region’s economic development with money coming from EU funding, the central government and the private sector.

He said this investment was responsible for an unprecedented growth in Burgenland’s gross national product and in the creation of thousands of new jobs in the tourism and IT sectors.

Dr Zammit Dimech’s visit to Burgenland took place on the initiative of the Malta International Airport.

Together with Dr Zammit Dimech, journalists from different sections of the media in Malta were also in Burgenland to participate in the various meetings and presentations.

MIA chairman Michael Hoeferer and chief executive Peter Bollech coordinated the visit.