The highlight of my Oh!-for-some-coolerweather week was the annual dinner of the Malta-China Chamber of Commerce at Chev. Maurice Mizzi's Ras Rihana in Bidnija. Chev. Mizzi doesn't do things by half and as you can imagine, every detail had been taken care of well before the evening started.
Putting clothes on in this heat is a penance which I hope will give me brownie points to heaven. I look at my wardrobe and discard most clothes as being too hot, too tight, too uncomfortable. I purchase these when I am abroad and have the time to go into a cubicle and spend time trying them on. But 'abroad' is usually somewhere cool and I tend to forget how hot Malta invariably is in our long summer. So I land with clothes which are simply not appropriate for our heat which is really only fit for thickskinned elephants and crocodiles.
It is true that we waited for Her Excellency our President and Mr Preca for something like an hour to arrive. But how many of those in this and similar positions have been punctual in the present and equally in the past? Her Excellency does her best not to disappoint people when they invite her and she attends something like six functions a day. Of course, someone remarked that she should not accept so many if this prevents her from being punctual but this is utter nonsense. People press her to accept to preside and although she tells them that she will probably be late they really do not care as long as she is present.
I have to say I had an interesting table which helped the time to pass quickly even if after about half an hour my gastric juices were suffering. Anyway, finally the President and Mr Preca arrived and the food had been laid out and we started walking up the stairs and helping ourselves to some delicious dishes.
It was soon time for speeches and some entertainment. Now, one of Maurice's hobbies is singing and he once told me he had been coached by a chanteuse in Switzerland. His CD was launched some time ago in aid of the Spiro Mizzi Foundation which does some excellent work in the Cottonera area. His singing voice is pleasant; he is a good crooner.
During the evening he say the kind of songs I enjoy, songs which have become classics:
Under my skin, Embraceable you, The more I see you, How about you? (dedicated to the President) Night and Day lous and Marvellous.
It was lucky that our soprano Lydia Caruana was present too with her husband. She had just come from giving a concert to an audience of 4000. She sang Summertime from 'Porgy and Bess' and Embracable you with Maurice. I haven't heard her sing locally for quite a long time. Why isn't she invited to do so?
A Chinese young lady with a voice from heaven sang in both Mandarin and English, too.
The Chamber which is now more relevant than ever was set up by Chev. Mizzi with Reno Calleja several years ago. In his speech Maurice said that they were not so much interested in helping the Maltese entrepreneurs to export beer or the Chinese to export to Malta their air-conditioners. They are focussing together with the Chinese Commercial Office on trying to bring large international Chinese companies to Malta and set up a base here in order to invade European and North African markets, 'when the Arabs decide to stop killing each other' he quipped. 'Little did we know that only a few years after the setting up of our Chamber that a large Chinese Company such as Shanghai Electric would be interested in taking over our problematic and costly electricity station,' he told the audience.
He said that although it was our Government who did all the work to bring this investment to our islands, the Chamber cannot but rejoice that its vision was moving in the right direction. 'I am sure that it is comforting for this company to know that in case of need the directors can turn to our Chamber for advice and help.'
Chev. Mizzi then spoke of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between Huawei and the Maltese Government. Huawei is ranked 285th in the Global Fortune 500 list. The number of employees have reached 170,000, 80,000 of whom are engaged in Research and Development. With a turnover of 46.5 billion dollars the company is servicing 1/3 of the world's population. No small fish this.
Huawei said they would employ 10 people. 'Let us give the directors and employees of this company all the encouragement they deserve. After all I am sure that a few months ago they did not know that our island existed. And yet they chose to venture into uncharted waters. Let us give them time,' Chev. Mizzi remarked.
To begin with these employees will be working in testing 5G technology which will not only be of benefit to Malta generally but also to our i-gaming sector if 5G is successful. At this point Chev. Mizzi thanked Mrs Sai Mizzi for her contribution in bringing this company to Malta and said that she should be given more time to attract other Chinese companies. 'What is the hurry? Our economy is the best in Europe. ' He then spoke of the problems with visas from China and that Mrs Mizzi will be helping to improve the situation.
Special thanks went to the President who he reminded us is doing a great deal of work for the needy and to Isabelle Vella 'who took over the role of our secretary Ker who had a child.'
He also thanked his colleagues on the Board, particularly Ms QiuGuangling, China's Commercial Attaché in Malta,' who had also given a very good speech in English.
It was time for dessert and we were not disappointed; another 'embarras de choix' moment. I tried to restrain myself and at the table met Mr Patrick Vella, private secretary to Konrad Mizzi and his slim and pretty wife Jane. We struck a conversation about her slimness (she was helping herself to those desserts just like me). He told me his job is with Mr Konrad Mizzi. I told him to give him my regards although I had never met him. The Minister is likeable but more dashing when he was slimmer. Stress makes some of us eat more. Still, he is simpatico which is a huge asset in itself.
Guests did not seem to want to go back home at the end of this pleasant evening but we finally made an effort and slowly made our way to our cars, satisfied that it had been more than worthwhile making the effort to dress and get-up-and-go in this awful weather. I could see my air conditioned bedroom in the distance.