The Malta Chamber of Small and Medium Enterprises (GRTU) yesterday met a delegation of the Malta Labour Party led by Labour Leader Alfred Sant during which they insisted that enterprises in Malta need to be given their due importance in view of their magnitude on the local economy.

The meeting was held to listen to the chamber’s reaction to the MLP’s action plan for industry in Malta.

GRTU president Paul Abela said the chamber was satisfied that the action plan was giving priority to enterprises, with measures which are enterprise-driven rather than regulation-driven, as is the situation at present.

He said business owners and entrepreneurs are finding it ever more difficult to keep up with the large amounts of forms that have to be filled in and with the regulations and new standards that have to be adhered to.

Mr Abela said the Labour action plan for industry would bring about no change if the people putting it into practice are not enterprise-driven. “Work and investment does not fall from the sky.

“The entrepreneur has to be assisted because it is this entrepreneur who is investing money and employing people,” he said.

During yesterday’s meeting, Mr Abela presented the MLP delegation with a copy of the GRTU’s proposals to try and alleviate the burden of the water and electricity surcharge which is having a drastic effect on small and medium-sized enterprises. One of the chamber’s proposals is that the electricity surcharge goes down to 40 per cent on 1 June and decreases again on 1 September.

The GRTU also proposed a fiscal credit system to give businesses a 100 per cent tax credit on the whole surcharge amount, backdated to the introduction of the surcharge.

It also proposed, among others, that the government should also give tax credits to those firms which install energy-saving equipment by giving a fiscal reduction of 200 per cent in the first year.

On his part, Dr Sant said the party’s plan for industry is proof of the importance the party was giving to this sector of the local economy. He said the party was focusing its efforts of measures to get the economy up and running.

The country should have an economic growth of between three and four per cent every year.

This, he said, would see employment creation as well as business.

Also present for the meeting were MLP deputy leader Charles Mangion and main spokesman on industry Chris Agius.