Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1307485
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 8 NOVEMBER 2020 14 COMMERCIAL 500+ South Africans attend the Malta Relocation and Investment online seminars A crowd of over 500 engaged South African nationals came together to learn about Malta's offering in terms of property investments, residence options and all that Malta has to offer. The series of online seminars were organised by Frank Salt Real Estate in collaboration with EMD and Malta Lifestyle. South Africa has always been at the forefront of the agency's international efforts to entice foreign nationals to invest in Malta or relocate to the island. In normal circumstances Frank Salt Real Estate would have held a series of roadshows through- out the country, with stops in a number of key regions. However, with the advent of Covid-19, the agency had to rethink its strategy and shifted its efforts online. "COVID-19 did not stop us. Since we could not physically travel to South Africa, we decided to go ahead with our usual roadshow, but virtually this time," said Di- rector Grahame Salt. "I must say that these online seminars still attracted a good number of people and this goes to show that Covid-19 or not, many South Africans are still very keen to travel to Malta and explore the possibilities Malta offers. A number of our clients are keenly awaiting travel re- strictions to be lifted in order to be able to visit," added Gra- hame. The reasons why South Africans consider relocating to Malta are varied. Being part of Europe and the Schengen zone is a major attraction, as is the Mediterranean lifestyle and the quality of life, sense of safety and health services that the is- land enjoys. "More and more people are not just investing in Malta as a "Plan B". Today the bulk of the interest actually comes from families and indi- viduals who wish to make Mal- ta their permanent address. We speak English. We are wel- coming. We have a strong and stable economy. We offer them opportunities that their 'home country' no longer does," add- ed Grahame. South Africa is not the on- ly non-European country that Frank Salt Real Estate has its eyes set on. Its reach also ex- tends to Russia, China as well as North America. With re- gards to the latter, the agency has recently sponsored two virtual conferences - 'Live and Invest in Europe' and 'Retire Overseas' - targeting USA and Canadian nationals interested in relocating our investing in Europe. More of such events will follow in the coming weeks. Investment through EU's Cohesion Policy delivers growth and prosperity to the Maltese Islands AMONG the success stories of the European Union throughout its history was the improvement in prosperity across the conti- nent but also the reduction of disparities between its Member States and Regions. The EU's Economic and So- cial Cohesion Policy is the principal tool through which the Union seeks to improve our quality of lives through hun- dreds of thousands of projects all over Europe that receive funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Social Fund (ESF) and the Cohesion Fund. Through these funds, in 16 years of membership, Malta has used more than €1.5 bil- lion on a variety of initiatives which have improved our ed- ucational and health facilities, enhanced our historical assets, trained thousands of individ- uals and supported numerous businesses in their road to- wards innovation, growth and job creation. Malta has been widely recognised in European quarters for its successful take up of the EU Cohesion funds, with former Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Creţu saying that "throughout the years, Malta has demonstrated how cohesion policy is a stra- tegic investment which makes a real difference." For the next seven years, Malta has secured a total of €842 million in funds under the core Cohesion Poli- cy. An additional €92 million were allocated to Malta as part of the Recovery Instrument – ReactEU. Over the next months, beneficiaries from all walks of life will get together through the OurEU platform to share their stories of how EU cohesion policy has tangi- bly improved their lives. This platform includes the website OurEU.mt and dedicated so- cial media pages on Facebook (@oureumt) and Instagram (oureu.mt).