The full programme of the Business Roundtable which will be held next week at the Hilton Conference Centre organised by The Economist with the Government of Malta, and with The Malta Business Weekly and The Malta Independent among its sponsors, has now been finalised.
The conference opens on Thursday with welcome speeches by John Peet and John Andrews, respectively Europe Editor and Consultant Editor of The Economist followed by an official welcome by Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech and a keynote address by Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.
This will be followed by a forum ‘Europe 2020 and beyond’ with Lord Mandelson and Mario Monti as speakers and a video message by Martin Scultz.
An official gala dinner with Prime Minister Muscat as the main speaker rounds up the day.
Friday will be a very heavy day with no fewer than 10 fora succeeding each other, beginning at 9am.
First will see the speakers from The Economist unveil their forecasts for 2014. This will be followed by a forum focusing on Europe and the Mediterranean world with Osama Saleh, minister of Investment in Egypt and Ambassador Fadel Jawad from the League of Arab States among the speakers along with Deputy Prime Minister Louis Grech and former Commissioner Anna Diamantopoulou along with Tim Reid from HSBC Europe.
The third forum will focus on investing in Malta with Minister Chris Cardona, Mario de Marco MP, Joseph Khoury from Methode and Ioannis Katakis from Maltco speaking in dialogue with Malta Enterprise’s Mario Vella, CBM Governor Josef Bonnici, David Curmi from the Chamber, Mark Watkinson from HSBC and Joshua Zammit from Malta Industrial Parks.
Just before lunch there will be two fora on energy matters: Minister Konrad Mizzi in dialogue with Gerhard Brenner from Siemens Project Ventures and Michael Kunz from Electrogas Malta; and Tony Hayward from Genel Energy, David McDonald from Noble Energy International and Minister Joe Mizzi in dialogue with Albert Caruana from Continental Shelf.
The first afternoon forum will focus on financial services with Jim O’Neill, former chairman of Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Minister Edward Scicluna in dialogue with FinanceMalta’s Kenneth Farrugia, FIMBank’s John C Grech, MFSA chairman Joe Bannister and BOV’s John Cassar White.
The four last fora will address, respectively: digital gaming with PS Zammit Lewis, Unibet’s Henrik Tjarnstrom and John Vassallo from Microsoft in dialogue with Tony Sultana, MITA chairman and MCA chairman Edward Woods; Maritime Opportunities with Torsten Temp from Nordbank and Minister Joe Mizzi in dialogue with Minister Chris Cardona, Transport Malta James Piscopo, Registrar of Shipping Ivan Sammut and HSBC’s Michel Cordina; tourism with Minister Karmenu Vella, Kerry Anastassiadis from Louis Cruises, Tim Fairhurst from European Tour Operators Association, Dario Rustico from Costa Cruises and John Huber from FinanceMalta in dialogue with MTA chairman Gavin Gulia, Corinthia’s Alfred Pisani and MTA CEO Josef Formosa Gauci; and finally the aviation industry with Minister Karmenu Vella and Eurocontrol’s Joe Sultana in dialogue with George Borg Marks from Transport Malta, Stephan Drewes from Lufthansa Technik, Ray Zarb from Falcon Alliance and John Matthews, chairman of AirX Malta.