Doing Business With Malta (Global Market Briefings Series)

FROM THE PUBLISHER

This first edition of Doing Business with Malta provides a definitive business guide to the current economic system and investment climate, an update on market potential in key industry sectors, and unique best practice on all aspects of trading with and investing in Malta. Since acquiring independence from the British in 1964, the Maltese Government has taken great strides in developing Malta as a regional hub for international business. Malta's former 'fortress economy' has now been greatly diversified. A relatively tiny country with a population of less than half a million inhabitants, it has a fast-growing economy, where GDP has been increasing at around 3.7 per cent annually since 1995. Similar to other small, yet rapidly developing dominions of the former British Empire, such as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Singapore, Malta enjoys a relatively high per capita income of some US$10,000. The country has inherited not only marvellous history and geographical advantages, but also -- largely from the foreign powers that dominated its strategic territories -- a legal, institutional and political framework commensurate with the overall requirements of rapid economic and social development.

Malta's imminent accession to the European bloc will mean that a foreign company considering investing in the country will henceforth have access to the entire EU market, including its wide-ranging array of trade agreements with around a hundred countries worldwide. Information for this book and the website has been supplied by a unique network of contacts in Malta including METCO, AVMT Advocates, the Malta Financial Services Authority and HSBC Bank Malta plc. Other valuable sources include local offices of Deloitte & Touche, Enterprise Consultancy Services Ltd and Malta Freeport. Doing Business with Malta is an invaluable guide to business practice and trading opportunities and provides up-to-the-minute information regarding market potential and all aspects of doing business in and with Malta.

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