Our annual showcase

Last Monday, the Prime Minister inaugurated the 47th edition of our International Fair. This is our annual showcase, providing producers and importers with a unique opportunity to present in one setting their latest range of products and services for all those interested to browse through.

As Ian Mizzi, president of the Malta Trade Fairs Corporation, pointed out, this has been the first fair since Dr Lawrence Gonzi became Prime Minister and since Malta joined the European Union.

It was in the circumstances natural that references were made to the new challenges and opportunities facing us within the Union and how Malta's geographic position could be used in order that Malta could act as a commercial bridge between the states within the EU and the North African countries.

Our Trade Fairs Corporation needs to look ahead and see how it can provide a proactive role in this process. It was interesting to discover that the corporation has now entered into a promise of sale agreement for the purchase of property at Ta' Qali where we may expect the fair to move to in a couple of years' time.

Again it was encouraging to learn that the corporation is determined not to limit its role to organise the kind of traditional fairs that we have grown used to over the years, but it will also have the vision to start planning fairs and other events that are taking place within the international playing field.

That in turn would attract to our country a new level of tourism activity that could have tremendous economic spin-offs. We have already been making the point that one of the niches that could grow further is the conference and incentive segment.

I have over the past weeks been meeting successful persons within destination management companies (DMCs - to use the technical jargon) who have been telling me of conferences taking place in Malta this month, although they would not normally have that kind of business extending to our summer season, as well as about bookings of further events in the coming years.

A number of these conferences already incorporate an exhibition element, even if limited. When it came to the conference organised by Nike for the second year running in Malta, the event was an actual product launch of the sort of apparel and sports goods that we can expect in the coming seasons.

This international company of repute is now exploring the possibility of a longer term commitment with Malta. When De Agostini were in Malta for a conference aimed at their distributors, they were also launching a new cultural encyclopaedia and DVDs in our own country.

Properly run fairs, events and a convention centre such as is being planned for Ta' Qali - not least because the present lease agreement over the land at Naxxar is running out - can provide much further synergies in the right direction.

In a globalised economy where networking has become of the essence, it is not unusual for conference organisers to request to go beyond a series of plenary and committee discussion sessions. The same organisers would want to benefit from the fact that stakeholders in one field or another have come together to organise specialised fairs where the suppliers of the stakeholders can display the latest range of equipment and facilities that are of interest within the targeted segment.

To give one example, if telecommunications executives from around the world are meeting to discuss issues of interest to them, such a conference would also be an opportunity for them to display the new services that they are providing to their customer base, as well as for their own suppliers to demonstrate whatever would be the latest technological breakthroughs that are being made.

Moreover, more and more businesses are tending to interact with each other as well as make deals based on public relations, advertising, sponsorship or the promotion of different brands.

It was, for instance, at the last World Travel Market in London, which brings together all the players from the travel and tourism industry, that I had the opportunity to discover about new mobile phones that have came on the market six months later. Why?

Not because of any direct link between these phones and the travel industry, but because the phone company in question felt that was the right kind of venue where to lease space and make known for the first time its forthcoming new gadgets!

If Malta will be capable to develop on these lines in the future, it can generate very welcome spin-offs that would serve our economy very well. That includes higher and more profitable use of our accommodation sector, and more money being spent in Malta. That is why I find the idea of multi-functional conference halls and ancillary facilities using the latest state-of-the-art technology appealing.

The Malta Trade Fairs Corporation is making these plans because it regards them as a worthy investment that relates well with the new opportunities that are facing the country.

It has been estimated that the move to Ta' Qali will entail a cost of around Lm8.5 million and we owe it as a nation to all those persons, who have the necessary vision and courage to move ahead, to act on our part as facilitators by offering the necessary back-up and ensuring that no red tape or other bureaucratic hindrance from whichever quarter is allowed to block the path to growth in the right direction.

As the Prime Minister emphasised when he was making his own inauguration speech last Monday, the best and largest investment that can take place is the one in human resources. The fact that our economy is relying more and more on the services sector, as evidenced by the enlargement that has this year taken place within the fair precisely in this sector, means that there is a need for more workers who are trained on a professional basis so that these may offer services of the highest quality and to the satisfaction of the client, irrespective of whether the client is a consumer, or a local or foreign investor.

Latest economic indicators offer a measure of optimism. Government revenue is on track and the number of registered unemployed persons has continued to decrease in a consistent manner.

Government is not shying away from making all those decisions that are needed in the national interest. Some decisions are painful but we are confident that the decisions will bear fruit and provide the national economy with the kind of stimulus that it requires.

Decisions that have already been made with regard to the Drydocks, Air Malta, PBS, Sea Malta and other sectors indicate that the present Government has no intention to make vague statements without delivering. We are conscious of the fact that meeting targets that we publicly set ourselves is the ultimate bottom line and that is how Government will ultimately stand to be judged in the forthcoming general election.

EU membership is now a fact of life. The referendum, the general election as well as our first election to select our representatives in the European Parliament are behind us. This should lead to an end to the uncertainties that were the order of the day until quite relatively recently.

Our annual showcase is this year open within the context of the new perspective brought about by EU membership. It is no longer a showcase that is limited for internal viewing. It now pertains to a much wider and open market of which we form part.

European financing will partially help us address needs in such areas as the environment and tourism. More information on this aspect is available at our annual showcase when one visits the Malta pavilion.

In the meantime, clients will become more demanding and discerning. It will not always matter whether an object costs a little more or a little less. It will however always matter that we always offer our clients value for money.

Living and operating in a more competitive environment will make us more sensitive to our clients' requirements. Our annual showcase then becomes in this respect a focused presentation in favour of quality, detail and innovation. It is our annual opportunity to show that we are capable of achieving all that.

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