Earlier today, the Minister for Transport and Infrastructure Joe Mizzi met with high level representatives from the Association of European Rail Industry (UNIFE) to discuss European transport, trade, and international relations issues in the context of Malta’s forthcoming presidency of the Council of the EU in 2017.
Director General of UNIFE Philippe Citroën emphasised that concluding the 4th Railway Package during the term of the Dutch, Slovak and Maltese Trio Presidency is of paramount importance to the industry, as the package will create a better level playing field between European companies (including Maltese ones) that are involved in the engineering, design and manufacturing of rail rolling stock, signalling and infrastructure equipment, and their competitors from outside of the EU.
Sustainable Urban Mobility is a priority area for both the Maltese Government and for UNIFE, and initiatives such as the new Shift2Rail launched under the European Research & Innovation Programme offer opportunities for Maltese SMEs and research communities involved in transport IT, ticketing and system design to participate in research projects fully funded by the EU.
The delegation from UNIFE will be also meeting with representatives from the Ministry for Economy, Industry and Small Business, Malta Enterprise and the Economic Policy Department, as well as Maltese MEPs Miriam Dalli and Roberta Metsola to discuss competitiveness issues relating to rail supply manufacturers and EU trade negotiations with Japan, USA and China, that may feature under Malta’s Presidency of the Council of the EU.