Speech by Tancred Tabone – President, Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise at the press conference announcing the merge between the Chamber and FOI
An overwhelming majority of Chamber (of Commerce) and FOI (Federation of Industry) members, approved the merger at Extraordinary General Meetings held on Wednesday 24 for FOI, and Thursday 25 September for the Chamber.
This is a truly historic moment in the long history of business representation in Malta. Indeed it has been a thorough and long process of planning and studying for this merger. All throughout, we have been assisted by an excellent team of legal and financial experts who Martin (Galea, FOI President) will be referring to in his address later on.
Above all, we ensured to remain as transparent as possible with all our members. In fact, we sought to exceed by far our legal obligations in terms of information provision to members.
The merger is the best solution for our members. This is a step forward in leading by example. The successful future of this country with limited resources lies in consolidation. Fragmentation and useless duplication needs to be eliminated as it cripples our chances of developing and achieving all that we deserve.
One must also mention the fact that although there were a number of people involved in both organisations, we are proud that – together – we still managed to bring to the fore the interest of the private sector and indeed of the country; above all other sectoral and individual interests
This is also an opportunity to become more effective both locally and even more so, on the European stage, with active involvement even at a decision-making level of our respective European Business Organisations.
Chamber members have all to gain. The merged organisation will be called the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry (or “Chamber” in short). It will continue to be housed in this magnificent building and manned by the combined permanent staff of both entities.
With a combined membership, it will carry more weight with government and stakeholders. The authorities cannot ignore the opinion of such a strong proportion of businesspeople, industrialists and investors – local and foreign alike.
In the background of the planning process, much groundwork was being made on the political level. This merger has the full backing of Government. It has been supported wholeheartedly by the Prime Minister who witnessed the Memorandum of Understanding signed by Victor Galea and Martin Galea last January.
Government is also committed to retain the combined weight of Chamber and FOI representation in such national boards and entities, such as the MCESD.
To conclude, I reiterate that the way forward now is for the new organisation to act as catalyst for the private sector to consolidate further in view of the challenges ahead.
One final comment, it is my duty to thank all the Officers, Councils and Secretariats of the two bodies for all their hard work and support. I must mention my predecessors, especially Victor Galea as well as past Officer Michael Scerri. Throughout, we have tried our best to make the merger process as inclusive as possible.
