While addressing a conference organized by the Chamber of Small and Medium Businesses and Malta Enterprise , the Minister for the Economy , Enterprise and Strategic Projects, Silvio Schembri, said that in our country we will have Competence Centers in specific sectors that will lead to having more workers specialized in particular sectors.
These sectors will include semiconductor technology, advanced manufacturing and digital technology. These hubs will also serve as centers for training which will lead to having more specialized workers so that Malta will also be more competitive on a global level.
“We will also have an SME Hub , which will offer space for facilities for small and medium businesses as well as being a place for training and networking, so that businesses together can learn and find the necessary support from each other,” said the – Minister Silvio Schembri.
Minister Schembri also said that there will be improvements in several Malta Enterprise schemes including, the rent subsidy scheme which will be improved so that more small and medium businesses become owners of their property and not just be helped to rent.
“We will also see that the Malta Enterprise Act is amended so that we can be more selective in which businesses and sectors we should assist. These proposals have already started to be implemented including reorganization , changes in the current schemes as well as preparations for the strong investment in the technological aspect of the operation in order to improve efficiency. Therefore, in order to see with the facts that we assist an activity that is high value added , by the middle of next year I will submit amendments to the Parliament to amend the Malta Enterprise Act . These legal amendments should not only give direction but bind us on quality and not quantity,” stressed the Minister .
Minister Schembri also explained that there will be changes in INDIS, where as today we do not have an unemployment problem, and therefore to improve the quality and not the quantity the industrial land must start being given on the added value and not on job creation. In order for this to be done and to have the strength of the law, work has also begun so that by the middle of next year a new legal framework will be set up that will regulate the operation of INDIS as well as for the first time in our country we will have an industrial policy that incentivizes activity with added value especially when it comes to the allocation of Industrial land.
“Thus together with the Malta Enterprise Act we see that our country’s resources are directed towards those industries that are of high added value such as technological and digital ones, microchips , aviation and maritime, ecological, automation , life sciences and high end manufacturing , among others,” said Minister Silvio Schembri.
Photo: MEEP
