FOI committee meets Parliamentary Secretary for Small Enterprises

The newly set up Micro and Small Enterprises (MSE) Committee within the FOI last week held a number of introductory meetings as part of its campaign to establish contact with the relevant stakeholders.

A delegation led by MSE committee co-ordinator Joe Cortis held a cordial meeting with the Parliamentary Secretary responsible for Small Enterprises, Edwin Vassallo, at his office in St Venera.

During this meeting the objectives of the MSE committee were explained to the parliamentary secretary, who expressed his satisfaction that such an important structure was formed within the FOI.

He also pledged his support to ensure that the structure would be as beneficial to entrepreneurs as possible.

The FOI delegation included MSE committee members John Degiorgio, Pierre Travers, Marthese Triganza, Frank Galea, together with FOI officials Kevin Caruana and Jeanelle Catania.

FOI director general Wilfred Kenely accompanied the delegation and introduced it to the parliamentary secretary.

The committee last week also held talks with officials from the Malta Council for Science and Technology. The meeting was aimed at exploring the possibilities of maximising the participation of small enterprises in the European Commission Research Programme FP7 and the local Research and Innovation Programme.

Another introductory meeting was held with officials from Malta Enterprise in which the participation of local small business in the European Commission programme Eureka was discussed.

The MSE committee is expected to be officially launched in the coming weeks and will soon announce a programme of activities aimed at offering benefits and opportunities to the smaller businesses.