Author: SME Chamber

L-Onorevoli Silvio Schembri,
President tal-Kumitat Permanenti dwar l-Affarijiet Ekonomici u Finanzjarji
jiltataqa' mall-GRTU – l-Kamra Maltija ghan-Negozzji Zghar u Medji. L-iskop ta' din l-laqgħa
kien sabiex l-Onor Schembri jkompli jisma' kif jaħsbuha d-diversi setturi dwar
ir-rati tal-imgħax mitluba mill-banek li finalment huma kruċjali
għall-industrija lokali, speċjalment għan-negozji żgħar u medji fejn ir-rizorsi
huma limitati hafna. 

L-Onorevoli Schembri  informa li l-Kumitat dwar l-Affarijiet
Ekonomiċi u Finanzjarji beda jistħarreġ is-suġġett tar-rati tal-imgħax mitluba
mill-banek f'Malta fil-bidu ta' din is-sena, waqt laqgħa li kellu mal-Gvernatur
tal-Bank Ċentrali.  L-Onor. Schembri
spjega illi wara li jkunu kkonsultati r-rappreżentanti tad-diversi setturi
milquta, il-ħsieb hu li l-Kumitat jorganizza seminar ta' nofs ta' nhar fejn
ikunu mistednin kemm l-istakeholders ewlenin, kif ukoll rappreżentanti
tal-banek Maltin, fejn  jkunu jistgħu
jagħtu l-pożizzjoni rispettivi tagħhom. dwar ir-rati ta' imgħax applikabbli
lokalment.

Fost issues oħra li gew
diskussi ġie elenkat illi n-negozji żgħar lokali huma iktar sensittivi għal
interessi għolja mal-banek lokali u li ċ-charges tal-banek lokali huma pjuttost
għoljin meta mqabbla ma' pajjiżi oħra.  

Fi tmiem il-laqgħa,
ntlaħaq qbil li l-GRTU taghmel preżentazzjoni dwar l-Affarijiet Ekonomiċi u
Finanzjarji lill-Kumitat.

Preżenti għal-laqgħa kien
hemm is-Sur Paul Abela, President tal-GRTU, is-Sur Philip Fenech President
tat-Tourism, Hospitality and Leisure Carmen Borg Eżekuttiv Ufficcju, GRTU.

This
week GRTU, together with the other members of the Malta EU Steering and Action
Committee, were addressed by Dr Ian Borg, Parliamentary Secretary for the EU
Presidency 2017 and EU Funds during a Core Group meeting which focused on
Malta's preparations for the Presidency in 2017.

We
are now three years away from the date when Malta will take over the presidency
of the European Council. Three years might seem a lot but in fact it is no so
for the amount of work and preparation that needs to be undertaken.

The
top Government officials taking care of preparations for the Presidency are Mr
Victor Camilleri, Executive Director (Programming and Training), and Mr Paul
Mifsud, Logistics Coordinator. Parliamentary Secretary Borg announced that
the first formal meeting of the Presidency Trio consisting of Slovakia, the
Netherlands and Malta that will be presiding over the Council of the European
Union between 1 January 2016 and 30 June 2017 will take place in Bratislava at
the end of March. During this meeting, the three countries will start working
on the task of identifying the priorities of the Presidency and to start
preparing the programme.

Dr
Borg said that the internal structure within the Ministry to deal with the
requirements of the Presidency has already started to be set up. They are
currently looking into the need to increase the amount of human resources they
have especially those based in Brussels, which most probably will have to
triplicate. At the moment the officials were meeting with all the Ministries to
draft a list of priorities for Malta and ultimately come up with a programme.

The
Parliamentary Secretary also said that the Budget will be finalized in June
2014 and that Malta did not have a figure as yet of how much will be spent on
the Presidency. From past experience of other Member States however it
transpired that the cost of a presidency is significant and even when countries
are very careful with spending they can easily spend around €50M. Dr Borg said
that Malta has already secured an amount of funds from the EU to address
capacity building needs required for the run up to the EU Presidency.

Mr
Victor Camilleri explained that the role of the Presidency includes the
responsibility for chairing meetings of the Council and its many working groups
throughout the process from when the European Commission issues a legislative
proposal to the moment when the Council adopts the legislative act. Together
with the two other Member States of the Trio, a programme is drafted for the 18
months. The presiding Member State also chairs informal Council Meetings and
organises other ancillary events that take place in the Member State during the
Presidency. Mr Camilleri said that the Maltese Presidency must promote the EU's
priorities, but will also strive to push forward Malta's priorities in the EU.

During
the meeting GRTU stated that it welcomed the update and the fact that
Government was consulting social partners. We emphasized that both GRTU and its
members do not want a Presidency that comes and goes without us feeling that we
have been involved and participants. We feel that both GRTU and its members can
be very valid contributors to a successful Presidency.

GRTU
also said that we would like to hear more about the programme that Malta will
be focusing on when more details are available. We have put forward a
suggestion that Malta should include SMEs in its priorities and push further
than the Small Business Act, towards an SME strategy that is more legally
binding on Member States.

The European
Commission has launched "Inseparable", a EU-wide campaign to promote
sustainable fishing. "Inseparable" builds on the momentum of the reform of the
Common Fisheries Policy, which came into force in January and recognises that
all stakeholders have a part to play to ensure fish for future generations.

The
campaign provides practical information to consumers and business operators on
how they can eat, buy, and sell sustainable fish.

The "Inseparable" campaign shares the same message that EuroCommerce,
working as the Alliance for Common Fisheries Policy Reform with WWF, fish
processors, co-ops and chefs, has been calling for: sustainable fisheries that
offer consumers the sustainably harvested fish they deserve and demand.

Full website:

ec.europa.eu/fisheries/inseparable/en/home

A new
Eurobarometer survey from January 2014 shows that more than a quarter of us
turn our phone off altogether when we travel within the EU. This means that
telecom companies are missing out on extra potential revenue, and it shows that
EU citizens travelling for work or pleasure are afraid of being stung with a
huge bill when they get home.

The Israel
Innovation conference is a unique and exciting new international Biomed and
High-tech conference format. The conference will take place at the Tel Aviv
Fairgrounds May 20-22, 2014.

This conference led by IATI will also bring the government perspective
through the involvement of the Chief Scientist (OCS) of the Israeli Ministry of
Economy.

IATI is
Israel's umbrella organization representing the various constituents of the
nation's advanced technologies, be it high-tech, biomed, multi-national
corporations, start-ups, incubators, accelerators,  technology transfer offices of academic
institutions,  venture capital funds,
service providers and more.

The OCS annual
R&D Conference will also merge with Israel Innovation Week, bringing the
government perspectives and exhibitions of the OCS programs into the new
format. The Biomed and High-tech venues will include lectures, company
presentations and exhibitions. While each event will cater to the participants
of its respective agenda, the event will also include joint sessions covering
topics of mutual interest to the entire advanced technology industries
including: perspectives of innovation and R&D policy and the convergence of
technologies between High-tech and Biomed and other factors of the Israeli
eco-sector.

Further
information and registration can be found at :

http://mixiii.com/home/welcome-letter#.Uwd9uYV9D6c

This is the
fifth seminar in a series of five being organised by MCCAA. The seminar will provide information about:

This half day seminar will be held on Friday 14 March from 8:30 a.m.
till 1:00 p.m. at the Mediterranean Conference Centre in Valletta. Entrance is
free of charge. Attendees are however required to register at:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1oTxMvLHUVlRQ0b3ILcVHIsduf-rtcynpNrngJnNgRWw/viewform

The European
Commission proposed this week a set of voluntary European Tourism Quality
Principles to ensure that tourists travelling to other Member States or
visiting our continent from third countries will get value for their money.

These principles cover four main areas: staff training under the supervision of
a quality coordinator, consumer satisfaction to ensure that tourist can rely on
handling of their complaints, cleanliness and maintenance, and correctness and
reliability of information in at least the most relevant foreign language. Such
access to reliable and up-to-date information on the quality of tourism services
enables tourists to differentiate among competing products, to make an informed
choice and to overcome linguistic difficulties. Small and medium size
enterprises (SMEs) will find it easier to emphasize that they are providing a
high quality service by sticking to the principles. The proposal will therefore
help SMEs which make up over 90% of the EU tourism sector.

More
information:
http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism/quality-label/index_en.htm

Computer and Internet Usage – Results showed high levels of
computer use throughout all enterprise size classes and economic activities.
The construction industry recorded the lowest usage rate, and stood at 89.8 per
cent. On the other hand, wholesale and retail trade recorded the highest rate
at 99.4 per cent.

In 2013, 95.5 per cent of
enterprises made use of the internet for business purposes. This figure
remained almost unchanged when compared with 2012. The number of employees
using internet reached 29,104, up by 2.0 per cent over the previous year.

Most enterprises (87.9 per
cent) made use of a DSL internet connection, and 66.6 per cent of enterprises
were also connected via mobile broadband (Chart 1). Results showed that DSL was
the most popular connection among small and medium-sized enterprises, while
mobile broadband was mostly popular with large enterprises.

The rate of e-government usage
decreased marginally over 2012 to 92.6 per cent. On the other hand, enterprises
owning a website or homepage increased by 5.1 per cent. Over half of
enterprises' websites included a ‘product catalogue and pricelist' (54.6 per
cent), with 48.2 per cent of these websites also displaying a ‘privacy policy
statement'

Results showed that 19.3 per
cent of enterprises using the internet also carried out sales via e-commerce.
Similarly, purchases via e-commerce were carried out by 22.2 per cent of
enterprises.

Mobile
Internet Users

The survey showed that 69.3
per cent of enterprises provided mobile devices to some of their employees for
business purposes, an increase of 27.5 per cent over 2012. Provision of mobile
devices to employees increased among all enterprise size classes and economic
activities. In total, 7,751 employees made use of a mobile device for work
purposes. This represents an average of nine mobile devices per enterprise.

Social
Media

The 2013 survey also included
an ad-hoc module on the use of social media among enterprises. Results showed
that 711 enterprises (57.8 per cent) using internet also used social media.
Nearly 80 per cent used social media to develop their corporate image whereas
58.3 per cent used it to obtain customer feedback

Further information on this report can be found at:

http://www.nso.gov.mt/statdoc/document_file.aspx?id=3930

Following discussions with Perit Charles Buhagiar Chairman of
the Building Industry Consultative Council to tackle issues hindering the
quarry sector, GRTU this week met its members quarry owners.

GRTU heard
the many problems this sector has, which include:

Quarry operators say
their work in the quarry business has become impossible. A committee was
nominated to accompany GRTU in discussions with Perit Buhagiar.