The Commonwealth Business Forum, which came to an end on Thursday afternoon, was an excellent opportunity to showcase what our small island has to offer to the international business community. Over three days, around 600 delegates and more than 100 top-level speakers from Europe and the Commonwealth gathered to discuss the major issues affecting businesses and trade in the world today.

The forum formed part of a series of meetings that were organised prior to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting that is being held over the weekend.

It would be a huge pity if we were to gauge the impact of the business forum on the basis of the many presentations and sessions that were held, because the real fruit of such meetings will only be known in the coming weeks and months.

Why? The real benefit for the local business community was the opportunity for individuals and companies to meet together in one-to-one meetings, to discuss not only the problems they are facing but to analyse and explore what business can be done on an international level. Dozens of one-to-one meetings were held over the three days of the forum and a number of initial contacts were made by local businesses.

Chairman of the organising committee, Louis Farrugia, urged delegates to make the most of the networking opportunities and to foster closer links with businesses not only in Commonwealth countries but also in Europe.

So what has Malta gained?

If for nothing, the forum gave Malta excellent exposure. However, what really boosted Malta’s image were the testimonials given by HSBC Bank (Malta) and De La Rue. These two international companies, with years of experience and business acumen, gave delegates the reasons why they had decided to invest in Malta, why Malta was so important to their operation and why they were going to continue investing in Malta. HSBC’s announcement that it had started a pilot call centre in Malta was undoubtedly a highlight of the forum.

HSBC not only confirmed its intention to strengthen its operations in Malta but it also confirmed that it was willing to invest in the country and contribute to the country’s economic and social well-being. HSBC’s CEO, Shaun Wallis, said the call centre would employ up to 300 people and this figure could further increase if the centre proved to be commercially-viable. This is exactly what Malta needs: top, multinational companies showing confidence in Malta.

What is more important, however, is that HSBC sent a clear signal to other multinational companies that Malta offered the infrastructure, skilled personnel and economic environment to do business in. If ever Malta needed a trump calling card, HSBC provided it. Their announcement, which will hopefully come to fruition next year, may also generate other forms of business from HSBC Group.

HSBC Malta was not the only company to show faith in our small country. Microsoft, the software giant, also confirmed its intention to continue investing its expertise in Malta and to use local companies to develop products based on its core systems.

The president and CEO of Actavis, Robert Wessman, also announced his company’s intention to boost production at the Malta production plant from 1.7 billion tablets a year to 2.8 billion.

What happens next? It is now up to those businesses to follow up the contacts made during the conference. For many companies and businessmen this was a unique opportunity.

For Malta it was a showcase event. For the countries making up the Commonwealth, the forum also provided the platform for the Commonwealth Business Council to influence the heads of government meeting this weekend to work to help developing countries to continue growing economically.