Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/573382
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 20 SEPTEMBER 2015 47 Interview Malta is open for business The Malta Attractiveness Survey has become a national benchmark for public and private stakeholders. Over 450 people attended last year's event. What makes it successful? We manage to bring different stakeholders together under one roof, providing them with sci- entific research and debate the future of businesses in Malta. We interview a lot of people on the ground and discuss what lies ahead, the good that Malta offers and what needs to be im- proved. We bring speakers from across the political spectrum, interna- tional businessmen, big busi- nesses and small businesses. It provides a good platform for people to discuss. We also try to mix our audience so we widen our reach as much as possible. What makes your conference different from others? We invest a lot of thought, time and effort in giving content to the meeting. It is not just a gathering for people to discuss. We collate feedback at both lo- cal and European level, which serves as an incentive for people to get involved. The trick is get- ting people engaged throughout the event and a lot of planning goes into the themes we choose for our audience to discuss. 'Malta: Open for Business' is the theme chosen for this year's conference. 'Open for Business' in various ways and it is a recurrent theme, which we want to run through- out the conference. Malta is open for business with various coun- tries, being Europe or countries beyond. We are dealing with dif- ferent economies. It is also about being open in the way we should be looking at Malta. Should we look at Malta on its own or perhaps look at in terms of its labour supplies, its businesses, the customers and who do we make business with? Malta being open in different ways Your surveys focus on how to make Malta attractive for investors. Red tape and high energy bills were seen as hindering the country's competitiveness. The attention is slowly shifting to logistics. We've been running the surveys for years and there are recur- rent themes. At one stage there was heavy focus on planning and energy tariffs. It also goes with the time and what people would be feeling as important or what would be out in the news. Sometimes there would be un- conscious bias and sometimes influenced bias depending on the agenda at the time. We mention logistics because many are thinking of Malta going back to its roots in terms of be- ing a supplies base or effectively a logistics basis. There is potentially the need to improve the infrastructure. A lot has been done and a lot needs to be done. It's also influenced by the discussions going on in the country. Until last year the Malta Attraction Survey served as a platform for debate. This year you're taking it a step further. How? The conference progressed with time. It started off just a few hours' long sharing the survey with stakeholders. Last year we did it in a different way by allow- ing the audience to discuss the findings of the survey. This year we wanted to be a lit- tle bit more brave: we didn't just want to repeat what the people are telling us but we, as EY, want- ed to come forward with our sug- gestions. The suggestions would be debated during the confer- ence as well. We are taking it a step further by giving our own contribution into how things can be done which will also help in the quality of debate. Every year you invite guest speakers of international calibre. How are the speakers chosen? We try to bring speakers who can add to the debate and who are willing to invest their time in understanding Malta if they are going to talk about Malta. We look for those who are ready to learn about Malta and who have the intellectual capability to give a positive contribution. Being Malta, we are very re- stricted of the people known on the island. There are very good people but we tend to know more about those from the Unit- ed Kingdom, Italy or the US. We try mixing a bit by getting people who are well-known, and some who might not. We also like getting people from differ- ent political or business back- grounds. This year's guest speakers are Lord Peter Mandelson and Jan Pete Balkenende. What are your expectations? What I do hope is that both speakers bring their own insight into whether, in their own view, Malta is open to business or how it can be more open. Both speak- ers know quite a lot about Malta, having been briefed by EY. We take a lot of time and effort in ex- plaining the survey … Balkenende comes regularly to Malta and is familiar with the island. Public and private stakeholders will be discussing the Maltese economy during the 11th edition of EY's Malta Attractiveness Survey. Managing Partner Ronald Attard tells MaltaToday why the national conference is not to be missed Ronald Attard Peter Mandelson