Economic cooperation
Italy has been over the last years the principal supplier of the Maltese market. The strong economic ties between Malta and Italy are also reflected by the presence on the island of more than 30 Italian companies operating successfully in various sectors. These include the electronic, textile, chemical, pharmaceutical and mechanical fields.
Moreover, Italy has for the last 20 years been in the forefront as regards financial assistance to Malta. A number of projects, ranging from restoration of monuments and aid for civil protection to the setting-up of a bio-industry platform, were financed through the four Italo-Maltese Financial Protocols. The fifth Protocol was signed in Rome on the 20th December 2002 and came into effect in January 2004. It ended on 31th December 2007. This last Protocol consisted of a total disbursement of 75 million Euros used on 13 different projects intended to upgrade a range of sectors to European standard requirements (road construction, food safety, water treatment, sea patrolling, cultural heritage restoration). To this effect and coinciding with Malta’s accession to the European Union, it has once again been demonstrated that the Italian co-operation has remained consistent with the principles on which it was founded.
The Maltese-Italian Chamber of Commerce and the Italian Embassy organize every year the Italian Pavilion within the International Fair of Malta.
1) Trade
Italy has been confirmed as Malta’s first trade partner also in 2007. According to a study of the Maltese National Statistics Office, Italy has been in the period indicated the first supplier and the eighth client of Malta.
Compared to 2006, Italian exports to Malta decreased by approximately 11.5%, reaching the amount of 852.6 million Euro, equivalent to 25.4% of the total of Maltese imports. The imports from Malta registered an increase of 11.4% (approximately 90.6 million Euro).
According to the Italian Trade Commission, in the 2007 the main Italian products exported to Malta were:
1. Refined oil products
2. Foodstuffs, drinks
3. Machinery and mechanical appliances
4. Electric machinery
The main Maltese products imported in Italy were:
1. Refined oil products
2. Chemicals products
3. Electric and electronic machineries and appliances
4. Vehicles
The presence of Italian industry in Malta is quite important, thanks to the direct investments of about thirty Italian companies. They are companies totally with Italian capital or joint ventures with Maltese participation, generally having a majority of shares.
Apart from the main Italian or Italo-Maltese companies, there are also approximately 500 Companies (the majority of which of the commercial type) having non-resident Italian shareholders.
2) Investments
Hereunder are some factories with Italian interests present in Malta:
1) STMicroelectronics Malta Ltd: It represents the most important factory in Malta. It is an Italo-French company of vast dimensions (approximately 2300 workers) which operates in the electronic field. It was instituted in Malta in 1981 and it is present in the whole world as a leader in microprocessors.
2) Nylon Knitting Ltd. is the oldest Italian investment in Malta with over 300 employees. The mother company is Sitip S.p.A., a textile company of Bergamo. The Nylon Knitting produces nylon yarn destined mostly for the foreign marked and, in a small part, for the mother company.
3) The Amino Chemical Ltd, associate company of Dibilux of Luxembourg and which forms part pf the Diapharma Group of Milan, produces and exports aminoacids destined for the pharmaceutical industry.
With regards to the transport sector, the main companies operating in Malta are Trenitalia, which operates through the local shipping company Virtu’ Ferries.
The following activities are also to be mentioned:
- Telecom Italia has been collaborating for many years with Maltacom, the Maltese company responsible for telecommunications, for the administration of the underwater fibre optic cable put into operation by the Italian Company Maristel;
- Alcatel Italia for the ICT sector;
- The consortium Inso-Esaote which was awarded the tender for the supply of equipment and plants for the hospital Mater Dei, for a total of 62 million euro (the largest tender ever held in Malta);
- In the field of the commercial distribution, the chain of Italian supermarkets GS is to be mentioned;
- Barbieri e Tarozzi company for the realization of the incinerator at the civil abattoir (V Protocol);
- I.B.I. S.pA. in collaboration with Polidano Brothers ltd., for the realization of the sewage treatment plant in the North of Malta (V Protocol);
- Tecnostar 2 for the realization of the meat processing and packaging plant (V Protocol).
legals
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