Parliamentary Secretary Jose Herrera said today that digital technologies are an important driver of labour productivity growth and needs to be strengthened.
He said more and more Maltese SMEs sell their products and services online (16%) and the percentage of SMEs selling online to other EU member states (12%) is high.
Addressing participants on the digital economy and SMEs during a business breakfast held at Le Meridien in St Julians as part of SME Week 2015, Dr Herrera said that there is no doubt that more needs to be done on this particular issue.
“There is a vast array of opportunities, which businesses need to tap into,” he continued.
Initiatives taken in favour of the SMEs
He outlined a number of initiatives being taken or which have been taken which favour SMEs. These include Blink - a business directory aimed at providing micros and SMEs with easy access to information on suppliers providing ancillary services to online businesses such as catalogue development and inventory management services, photography services, script writing services, web design, and more.
On this point, he said a good number of suppliers have already registered to this directory which will be launched soon.
He said a study will be undertaken on the use of online technologies in respect of business-to-business and business-to-consumer transactions in order to establish a detailed understanding on the state of play and level of eCommerce adoption by the tourism and hospitality industry and to formulate a strategy and action plan aimed to support the industry.
On digital public services, Dr Herrera said Malta ranks first in the EU in the provision of eGovernment services; however Malta ranks low in the use of such services.
“Modern public services offer an efficient manner for reducing public spending and drive efficiency gains for enterprises, citizens, and the public administration itself.
“This is why MITA has embarked on a public services online initiative to first and foremost understand the reasons behind the lack of use of such services and then to promote these services with the respective owners,” he explained.
MEA will continue to represent the interests of all companies - president
Arthur Muscat, president of the Malta Employers’ Association, thanked Labour MEP Miriam Dalli for initiating an event whereby a number of Maltese entrepreneurs engaged in a “fruitful” dialogue with EU Commissioner Elzbieta Bienkovska, who is responsible for the internal market, industry, entrepreneurship and SMEs.
He said the MEA will remain in the forefront of representing the interests of all companies, including SMEs and micro businesses. He noted with satisfaction the fact that the ICT, finance, gaming, film and other industries are generating jobs and entrepreneurial opportunities for thousands of graduates.
PN MP says government has not yet come up with coherent plan on how EU funds will be channelled
PN MP Kristy Debono said that the digital economy is much more of a broader domain than ICT and industries such as gaming have acquired good results.
She made reference to the MEA’s proposals for the national budget concerning the next EU programming period, where rightly so the association is observing that already two years into the programming period 2014 – 2020 and the government has not yet come up with a coherent plan on how the funds are going to be utilised and channelled into prioritised areas such as research and innovation, infrastructure and human resources development.
She said she looks forward to see whether the government took up the proposals made by the MEA in its budget to be presented next month.
She also said that it is of paramount importance for SMEs not to view the digital economy as an obstacle and instead view it as an opportunity for business to reap the benefits.
Photo: Michael Camilleri