Author: SME Chamber

Why did you become an entrepreneur? It was a family business and we carried on with it. How have you come to choose your line of business? We inherited it since it was in our family

 

Where did you go on your last holiday?

South Italy – the things I liked most were the food and the people.

What is your earliest memory?

When my family bought me my first puppy.

If you could chose to be someone famous who would you be and why?

Mother Theresa – because she always helped people less fortunate than others and always distributed her wealth to others. I think that if more people take the steps of Mother Theresa the world would be a better place to live in!

GRTU representative Michael Galea has in April participated in a trade mission to Qatar organised by Malta Enterprise. Mr Galea has prepared a brief overview of Qatar for members who would might be interested in exploring opportunities in this market.

 

Qatar Background

Qatar is a small flat limestone peninsula located in the Saudi Arabian peninsula into the Persian Arabian gulf. Politically Qatar is evolving from a traditional society to one based relatively on more formal democratic institutions to meet the requirements of social and economic progress.

The capital city is Doha. The population is 1.8 million as at 2011. Arabic is the official language and English is widely spoke. Religion is Islam. Natural resources are: petroleum, natural gas and fish. The national currency is the Qatari Riyal.

Qatar has 3 airports; Doha international, Al Khorramshahr and Al Udeid. It's major seaports are Doha, Mesaieed and Ras Laffan.

The new corporate tax in Qatar Is 10%. This applies mainly to foreign companies and is payable on a progressive scale up to a maximum of 35% and there is no VAT. The GDP for 2011 is estimated at €100 billion. External trade plays a big part in the Qatar's economy, mainly exporting oil and gas. Mining and quarrying including oil and gas account to 52% of the GDP.

Trade with EU 27 countries in 2010 accounted to about €13.1 billion. Exports towards Qatar stand about €5.3 billion. The EU exports to Qatar are mainly machinery and transport equipment which account to 60% other products range from manufactured articles, chemicals, food, crude materials, inedible fuels, beverage and tobacco to commodities and transactions n.c.e. Imports from Qatar to the EU mainly consist of fuels 94%, chemicals, machinery and transport equipment commodities and transactions and other manufactured goods.

Trade between Malta and Qatar in 2011 stood and €5.3 million. Comparing 2010 with 2011 total trade increased with 71%. imports from Qatar are relatively low, so Malta has a trade surplus with Qatar. The top goods exported from Malta to Qatar are printed material €3.6m and miscellaneous edible preparations €529K. Products imported from Qatar in 2011 where mainly plastics.

Qatar's total FDI in 2009 was also 36.4% higher than previous year, putting total FDI at about €35billion. This figure amounted to about 47.9% of the gross domestic product generated in Qatar in 2009. A spokesman for the Qatari Statistics Authority commented that: "despite the decline of liquidity in global markets in 2009 due to recession in World economy Qatar has succeeded in attracting foreign investment flows by QR 45.7 bn during the year."

Although to date the main activity is related to oil, the government is fully aware that diversification is a must if the buoyant economic growth recorded is to be pursued. In fact policies designed by the government are being carried out with the intention of facilitating this diversification process.

Qatar, besides it's economic diversification process is also seeking to promote more free market economy and to move away from state monopolies and monopolisticcompetition.

Another major factor that will be driving business opportunities is that related to the World Cup 2022 that will be held in Qatar. The World Cup which is considered as a global event will nonetheless serve as a promotional activity for Qatar. In view of this global event Qatar will be investing heavily to ensure that the world cup hosted in 2022 will endure a positive impression with all those attending the event as well as the billions of event viewers. It is expected that for the 2022 World Cup circa 65 billion United States Dollars will be spent mainly in transportation.

The real estate sector in Qatar is currently enjoying a boom. After Dubai it is the largest Market in the Middle East. This rapid growth is being driven by a number of factors. A main factor that has contributed in this sector is the reform that Qatar carried out in the constitution with respect to ownership of property. These changes actually made purchase of property more accessible to foreign investors since it allows the freehold of property within Qatar. These changes in part can be considered as being coherent with Qatar's strategy to reduce it's economic dependence on oil and to develop other sectors.

Another contributor to the real estate sector has been the big amount of foreigners employed in Qatar. The fact that the oil industry pays higher salaries to workers than competing industries, Qatar manages to attract a considerable number of workers such as: geologists, petroleum engineers and others which are driving the demand for property in the country.

Hosting the 2022 World Cup has increased the growth momentum in this industry. According to a recent research that has been carried out it is envisaged that the Qatari construction sector will be awarding in 2012 more than $22 bn new contracts. Also in view of the World Cup preparations, it is expected that the Qatari construction sector in the next 5 years will be most buoyant construction Market in the Middle East.

Education in Qatar today is being given the importance that it merits. Government is pumping billions of Qatri Riyals every year to further push up the level. The education received by all Qatari citizens is free. The Qatari government has an education vision in mind. To succeed a Supreme Education Council has been set up. The SEC is responsible for education policy and setting broad and sound goals for the school system. Under this system a new school system was intrigued better known as The Independent School Model.

The Qatari government has engaged on a drive to attract and encourage international schools to operate from Qatar. Schools setting up under this project are entitled to a number of incentives. All these efforts towards the education system are being carried out in view of the vision 2030. The main objective is to improve the skill of Qatari males and females to be in a better position to compete for better employment opportunities in energy and industry sectors and also improve the image of vocational training.

Qatar provides an excellent Market for English language courses. With respect to the English language courses, Malta has a very strong sector and provides high quality English language courses to thousands of foreign students on an annual basis. Opportunities in the education sector include those associated with newly privately funded schools; teacher professional development training; curriculum design and standards; innovative teaching, pedagogy, school furniture and learning difficulties. The awarding bodies that should be approached are the Supreme Education Council, The Higher Education Institute, The Evaluation Institute and the Outstanding Schools Oversight Committee.

Healthcare in Qatar is by and large provided by the Government. Private healthcare is practically non existent. In the pipeline the government has a privatisation drive so the opportunities here will also increase. It is planned that in the long term the government will hand over the healthcare services to the private sector.

Furthermore recent changes in Qatari law now allow foreign companies to invest in this sector together with a local partner. The opportunities within this sector are said to increase because the Qatari population is increasing very fast. Population forecasts by the International Monetary Fund show that for 2011 the population of Qatar was about 1.8 million. This represents an increase of 99% to the population recorded in 2005.

At present Qatar has free trade agreements with:

• Iraq
• Singapore
• European free trade association

 

 

There is a free trade agreement between Qatar and the USA. However, this agreement has been on hold since 2006. Qatar is also in the process of negotiating a trade agreement with Australia.

GRTU has the week written to the Prime Minister following the meetings he held with the GRTU National Executive Counci. Mr Vincent Farrugia GRTU Director General stated that he specifically raised the issue of the importance of retaining the employment generating schemes, specifically the Training Aid Framework (TAF) (€8.9M) and Employment Aid Programme (TAP) (€8 million each). GRTU has learned that these two Schemes that together generated more than 2,000 jobs are now being temporarily withdrawn due to oversubscription. GRTU strongly protests against this decision.

GRTU stresses that this is a very bad message issued at a very difficult period as these Schemes have been very successful in sustaining the level of employment in Malta and have been of particular stimulus to the retaining and expansion of employment in the micro and small business sector. Indeed, our main concern until now has been the excessively delayed system of wage refunds on these schemes to small employers. Unfortunately this delay, which causes cash flow problems to many small businesses, owes its responsibility to OPM itself due to the excessive bureaucratic demands the PPCD has practiced.

GRTU has stressed with the Prime Minister, and consistently with Minister Tonio Fenech, to implement without further delay and with complete banking choice to applicants the MicroGuarantee Scheme. The aim of the Scheme is specifically to further sustain regeneration of a whole cross section of micro, small and medium sized businesses, who with the full support of TAF and EAP will surely create enough jobs to absorb most available unemployed especially youth unemployed and school leavers.

It is important that one Scheme roles over into another Scheme so that no support gaps are created during periods of increased economic pressure coming from the rest of the European Union. The situation in the European Union economies is not getting better. We are seriously concerned that, rather than continuing to sustain important schemes like the TAF and EAP, and implement as fast as possible the MicroGuarantee Scheme, Government at these important economic junction is drastically curtailing its support to small businesses.

We do understand the issue of funding from the European Union's end, however, it is important, even if we had to suffer the use of internal Government funds, that no withholding of support is affected. The second European Semester programme clearly distinguishes between public financing of employment generation scheme and other non-growth supporting schemes. Government should send out a clear message that small enterprises will continue to be supported no matter what.

GRTU has asked the Prime Minister for an urgent round table meeting with all those concerned to decide on this matter as this is too important for our members.

Once again the Employment and Training Corporation (ETC) in collaboration with the European Employment Services (EURES) in Malta will be organizing its annual: Jobs and Training Fair. The fair will bring together local and foreign employers who are seeking to recruit new staff within their companies. Training providers are also invited to offer their services to those employees and jobseekers who would like to improve their academic and working skills.

What is the aim of the fair?

The aim of this activity is primarily to provide general information on vacancies and guidance to jobseekers who are looking for employment and/or seeking to further their studies both locally and in other European countries.

Why should you participate?

This is an excellent opportunity for local companies / private recruitment agencies such as yours to be part of this fair which will be visited by over 1000 visitors. As part of the marketing campaign, the fair will be promoted amongst the various local media sectors (TV and radio stations, billboards etc.) as well as through the social network site Facebook.

Who can participate?

• Employers currently seeking to recruit
• Training Providers
• Recruitment Agencies

 

 

Would you like to be part of this fair?

If yes, contact the ETC Fair Co-ordinator Ms Marvic Bugeja on . The exhibition space will be offered to you at no cost and the company will only be expected to provide the necessary promotional material.

Mr Lawrence Zammit will be appointed as Chairman of Malta Enterprise and Malta Industrial Parks Limited, while Dr Sue Vella will be appointed as Chief Executive Officer. Both appointments will take effect as from 12 May 2012.

Mr Zammit is a founding partner of MISCO, the marketing research and HR consulting firm with operations in Malta and Cyprus. He has held a number of public appointments, including past chairman of the Malta Development Corporation. He has also been chairman of the Employment and Training Corporation, Malta international Airport and Air Malta. He was also actively involved in the setting up of Malta  Enterprise.

Dr Sue Vella joined Malta Enterprise as Chief Operations Officer in March 2010.   Prior to joining Malta Enterprise, Dr. Vella was Chief Executive Officer at the Employment and Training Corporation, while also serving as Vice President of the Employment Committee in Brussels and Chair of its technical group.  She has worked in public sector consultancy and in various policy fields, also serving on a number of public sector boards and committees including vocational education, housing, social welfare and pension reform. 

Mr Zammit's and Dr Vella's experience in working with different industrial sectors will ensure that Malta Enterprise continues to build on the positive results achieved over the past years in terms of attracting foreign direct investment to Malta and in supporting the continuous development and growth of Maltese industry and enterprise.

Directive 2000/25/EC is amended by Directive 2011/72/EU. Directive 2000/25/EC regulates exhaust emissions from engines installed in agricultural and forestry tractors. The emission limits applicable in 2010 for type approval of the majority of compression ignition engines, referred to as Stage III A, were to be replaced by the more stringent Stage III B limits, entering into force progressively as from 1 January 2011 with regard to the placing on the market, and from 1 January 2010 as regards the type-approval for those engines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stage IV, providing for emission limits more stringent than Stage III B, will enter into force progressively as of 1 January 2013 as regards the type-approval for those engines and as of 1 January 2014 with regard to the placing on the market.

The transition to Stage III B involves a step change in technology requiring significant implementation costs for re-designing the engines and for developing advanced technical solutions. However, the current global financial and economic crisis or any economic downturn should not lead to a lowering of environmental standards. This revision of Directive 2000/25/EC should therefore be considered to be exceptional. Furthermore, investments in environmentally friendly technologies are important for the promotion of future growth, jobs and health security.

Directive 2000/25/EC provides for a flexibility scheme to allow tractor manufacturers to purchase, during a given stage, a limited number of engines that do not comply with emission limits applicable during that stage, but which are approved in accordance with the requirements of the stage immediately preceding the applicable one.

Since 2005, Directive 2000/25/EC has provided for the evaluation of the possible need for additional flexibilities in relation to Stages III B and IV emission limits. In order to provide temporary relief to the industry when moving to the next stage, it is necessary to adapt the conditions for applying the flexibility scheme.

During Stage III B, the number of tractors that are placed on the market and that enter into service should, in each engine category, not exceed 40 % of the number of tractors placed on the market by the tractor manufacturer in that engine category. The alternative option of allowing a fixed number of tractors to be placed on the market and to enter into service under the flexibility scheme should be adapted accordingly.

Manufacturers of tractors falling within the scope of this Directive should benefit from European financial support programmes or any relevant support programmes provided by Member States. Those support programmes may favour projects employing the best available technologies with the highest emission standards.

Directive 2000/25/EC is amended by Directive 2011/87/EU. Directive 2000/25/EC regulates exhaust emissions from engines installed in agricultural and forestry tractors with a view to further safeguarding human health and the environment. Directive 2000/25/EC provided that the emission limits applicable in 2010 for type-approval of the majority of compression ignition engines, referred to as Stage III A, were to be replaced by the more stringent Stage III B limits, entering into force progressively as from 1 January 2010 as regards the type-approval, and from 1 January 2011 with regard to the placing on the market, for those engines. Stage IV, providing for emission limits more stringent than Stage III B, will enter into force progressively as from 1 January 2013 as regards the type-approval for those engines and from 1 January 2014 with regard to the placing on the market.

Article 2(b) of Directive 2004/26/EC which amends Directive 97/68/EC on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to measures against the emission of gaseous and particulate pollutants from internal combustion engines to be installed in non- road mobile machinery, provides that the Commission is to consider the available technology, including the cost/benefits, with a view to confirming Stage III B and IV limit values and evaluating the possible need for additional flexibilities, exemptions or later introduction dates for certain types of equipment or engines and taking into account engines installed in non-road mobile machinery used in seasonal applications. Moreover, Article 4(8) of Directive 2000/25/EC provides for a review clause in order to take into account the specificities of tractors of categories T2, T4.1 and C2.

Directive 97/68/EC was the subject of several technical studies. As a result of those technical studies carried out in 2007, 2009 and 2010 and confirmed by the impact assessment carried out by the Commission, it was established that it is not technically feasible for tractors of categories T2, T4.1 and C2 to meet the requirements of Stages III B and IV by the dates set out in that Directive.

In order to prevent Union legislation from prescribing technical requirements which cannot be met yet and in order to prevent a situation in which tractors of categories T2, T4.1 and C2 can no longer be type- approved and placed on the market or put into service, it is necessary to provide for a transitional period of 3 years, during which tractors of categories T2, T4.1 and C2 may still be type-approved and placed on the market or put into service.

You are kindly being requested to provide your feedback to the Malta Competition and Consumer Affairs Authority by e-mail:

The European Union's Eco-Innovation funding call is addressed to organisations that have developed an environmental product, service, management practice or process which has a proven track record, yet is not fully marketed due to residual risks. The initiative is intended to overcome those barriers to further market penetration and turn these products and processes into Europe's future eco-innovation successes. Applications from SMEs are particularly encouraged. Around €35 million will be available to fund new projects this year. The Commission will fund up to 50% of the project's eligible costs.

Tuesday 15th May 2012 – 13:00 – 16:00 hrs
Malta Enterprise, Gwardamangia Hill, Pieta (Conference Hall)

Sectors: Recycling materials; Sustainable building products; Food and drink sector; Greens business; and water technologies

Deadline for submission of applications is expected to be in September.

Due to limited seating capacity booking is required by latest 14th May. Booking is to be done by clicking on this link:

http://www.cipmalta.com/events.aspx?eventid=11

EU consumers want to be sure that the products – whether produced in the EU or imported from third-countries – are safe. The good news is that thanks to the increasing effectiveness of the EU's rapid alert system for non-food dangerous products ("RAPEX") dangerous products are detected earlier and more effectively and are more promptly removed from the EU market. This process involves a chain of actions including upstream efforts to design out risks at source, better risk assessment and close co-operation between EU authorities, notably customs, to identify risks at the points of entry.

John Dalli, Commissioner in charge of Health and Consumer Policy, said: "The fact that fewer dangerous items enter the EU market is good news for consumers. But we must remain committed so that we can tackle the challenges of the global supply chain and address any new product safety issues as they emerge. That is why building the system of 'Seamless Surveillance' by strengthening co-operation here in the EU and enhancing co-operation with international partners remains a key priority".

RAPEX : a rapid alert system to keep EU consumers safe

RAPEX has matured significantly since 2004 (when the General Product Safety Directive was transposed into national law). Member States have spent up to 100 million € and employed up to 6000 inspectors to work on product safety enforcement. The 2011 report highlights the achievements:

• earlier detection
• better market surveillance and product safety enforcement by national authorities, including through specific projects;
• better risk assessment by authorities;
• more focus on quality and usefulness of notifications;
• growing co-operation with customs authorities;
• continued network-building and training coordinated by the European Commission.

RAPEX 2011 Report: what about the countries of origin:

Although China remains – with more than half of the RAPEX notifications – the number one country for the number of notifications on products, there has been a decrease from 58% in 2010 to 54% in 2011.

19% (293 notifications) were of European origin. 15% were from other countries. 8% were of unknown origin (compared to 23% in 2004 – decreasing steadily with better identification).

Dangerous products of European origin accounted for 293 notifications (19%), including 44 products of French origin (3%), 43 products of German origin (3%) and 32 products of Italian origin (2%).

Notifying countries – all Member States involved:

All Member States participated in the RAPEX system by detecting and notifying new dangerous products and ensuring appropriate follow-up actions. The most active countries were Spain (189 notifications), Bulgaria (162 notifications), Hungary (155 notifications), Germany (130 notifications), and the United Kingdom (105 notifications). Notifications sent by these countries represent 47% of all notifications on products posing a serious risk sent via the system.

Clothing and textiles, toys and motor vehicles are on the top of the list.

Clothing and textiles were the most frequently notified products (423 notifications concerned suffocation and irritation risk), followed by toys (324 notifications mainly for choking risk), motor vehicles (171 notifications for risk of injury), electrical appliances (153 notifications for risk of electric shock) and cosmetics (104 notifications for chemical risk), which together account for 74% of all notifications on products posing a serious risk in 2011.

What next:

• Build the system of 'Seamless Surveillance';
• Enhance the co-operation with third countries, in particular, bilaterally with China and trilaterally with the US and China (the next trilateral meeting is scheduled for June 2012), and make progress on the co-operation with the US, Canada and Australia on an important work on pooling recall information under the auspices of OECD;
• Finalise proposals for a comprehensive legislative package on product safety and market surveillance;
• Promote greater awareness among businesses of their obligations.

 

The Consumer Affair Council will be meeting on the 16th of May 2012. For this reason we are kindly asking you to bring forward any issues which you wish to be discussed during the said Council. At the moment this Council is drawing out a list of issues which it will be discussing throughout this year. The scope of this council is to advise the Minister regarding measures to be taken for the protection of the Consumer.

Mr Mario Cutajar our representative on the Council will be keeping the GRTU informed of any outcome affecting our members and will be also consulting the GRTU for guidance on issues where the need arises.

I await for your feedback as Mr Cutajar will be representing GRTU's recommendations during the next meeting which is going to be held on the 16th of May 2012.

Kindly forward your suggestions by not later than the 15th of May 2012 on email;