Tourism revolving around the ceramics and artisan industry was the focus of an EU programme, called MedPot, which brought together Maltese and Sicilian entrepreneurs, hoteliers, artisans, and students.

The town of Sciacca, which is famous for its numerous artisan shops which specialise in ceramic ware, was chosen as the venue of the programme.

Small business and self-employed parliamentary secretary Edwin Vassallo yesterday met the programme participants at Malta Enterprise and expressed his satisfaction at the results obtained from the participants.

MedPot workshops served as a platform for discussing the various possibilities of cooperation between Malta and Sciacca in view of designing a common promotional package to be sold to tourists. The package would combine tourism with a ceramics token – an idea which seeks to increasingly associate the Mediterranean with the art of ceramics.

Mr Vassallo spoke about the results obtained by the programme. Some outcomes underlined were the possibility of organising trips promoting tourism between Malta and Sciacca and the establishment of a three-week scholarship in Sicily, which will be given to the student with the best design for an original artisan product. There will also be a joint Sicilian-Maltese artisan production that will be called La Mediterranea and a publication of a report about the ceramic artisan industry and related tourist services. Participating hoteliers will promote artisan products in their establishments.

Mr Vassallo said that e100,000 will be generated through commercial exchanges initiated through the programme by the year 2007.

The 44 participants were divided into three main workshops, one on the tourist sector, one on the ceramic side and one for students. Ceramics students from the Malta College for Arts, Science and Technology Institute for Art and Design were praised for the high level shown in their creations.

Sciacca and Maltese partners are currently working towards putting into practice the programme’s results. To this avail, partners invite representatives from the tourism and ceramics sectors to contact them at keith. [email protected] to find out further information about the project’s objectives and on-going activities.

The partners in the programme were Interreg IIIA Italia – Malta, Parliamentary Secretariat for Small Business and the Self-Employed, Comune di Sciacca, Confartigianato Sicilia, CNA Sicilia, Maltese-Italian Chamber of Commerce, and the Maltese Society for Arts, Manufacture and Commerce.