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Co-operation
The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise co-operates with other Institutions and, in its main national activities, works closely with kindred organisations as the occasion demands.
The Chamber keeps close contact with similar foreign organisations. It is a Member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), the Association of European Chambers of Commerce and Industry (EUROCHAMBRES) and the Assembly of Mediterranean Chambers of Commerce (ASCAME).
Eurochambres
Eurochambres is the Association of European Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the largest European business organization. It represents 15,000,000 Enterprises, members of 1,500 Regional and Local Chambers of Commerce and Industry in thirty-seven countries.
The Malta Chamber has formed part of Eurochambres since 5th October, 1989 when its application for associated membership was unanimously approved at the 66th General Assembly held in Nicosia. The Chamber perceives its participation in Eurochambres initiatives as vital, particularly in the light of the fact that Malta's EU membership negotiations were envisaged to be concluded by the end of the current year.
Over the past few years, the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise has taken part in several programmes and initiatives aimed at achieving a closer and more effective network between European and Mediterranean chambers.
ChamberPASS
The Chamber participates actively in ChamberPASS. This is considered to be an effective tool for its members and consists of a website which serves as a unique location for popular business enquiries. The website is common to all European participating chambers. To date, a vast number of chambers from within the Eurochambres network have decided to join. The services on offer are various and are available in various languages apart from English. This is done to ascertain popularity in the entire European continent. Companies can log onto the website (http://www.chamberpass.com) and, after a short online registration process, they can choose a country and city for which their enquiry is related. The website will then match the nearest participating chamber to the location. The system then provides a third menu with the services offered by this particular chamber. These would typically include “Finding a business partner abroad”; “Detailed company profiles”; “Specific publications”; “Reports on local markets”; “Introduction to key people”; and “Advice on local legislation, culture, support”. All these services constitute the crux of services offered by a typical chamber of commerce. ChamberPASS now allows chamber members to obtain services not only from the local chamber but also from chambers in other countries. Most of the time these services are provided free or at a nominal charge by our partner chambers. The Chamber website is linked to that of ChamberPASS to ease and promote access by Chamber members.
“The Road to EU”
Eurochambres published and provided the Malta Chamber with a number of copies of the 2002 edition of “The Road to EU”. This brochure gave information on the pre-accession strategy of Chambers of Commerce in future EU Member States. Copies of the brochure were made available to all Council Members and circulated to Ministers, Shadow Ministers, Media and other interested parties.
Presidents’ Council
On an annual basis, the President of the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise joins his counterparts from various European chambers of commerce and industry to participate in the Annual Eurochambres Presidents’ Council Meeting. This event is generally held in Brussels and addressed by a number of distinguished speakers.
EES 2003
For the past years the Chamber also participated in the annual benchmarking exercise - the European Economic Survey (EES) - organised by Eurochambres. To this end the services of leading economist, Prof. E.P. Delia are sought. To this end, constant contact between the secretariats of the Chamber and Eurochambres is maintained. A quarter of Chamber members replied to the Eurochambres questionnaire in 2002. The results were submitted to Mr. Vim Martens in October and published in December.
Annual Congress
The Chamber is also a regular participant in the Eurochambres Annual Congress which marked its 10th Edition in 2002. The delegation is generally headed by the President and normally includes the Director General and the Malta Business Bureau Director.
Mercure Med
The Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise has also participated in an initiative entitled Mercure MED under a broader programme called Archimedes.
Under this initiative, executive personnel from Chambers of Commerce in EU and MEDA countries were given the opportunity to travel to Chambers within these territories in order to get acquainted with the functioning and activities of other Chambers. Executives from Mediterranean Chambers were given the opportunity to spend two weeks in a EU Chamber while EU executives could travel to a Mediterranean country for a week. The idea was for executives to observe the functioning of similar organisations, establish personal contacts and prepare joint activities. Around fifty MEDA Chamber executives and another forty from EU member states could participate in this initiative whose main objectives are to:
Transfer expertise and know how, and to identify best practise in particular fields of Chamber related activities
To create a solid link between the respective Chambers, which will serve as a base for further cooperation between the regions involved, both at Chamber and company level.
The Chamber’s participation in this project started when it hosted Mr. Jarlath Feeney, Chief Executive of the Galway Chamber (Ireland) and sent two of its executives to four different Chambers across Europe.
Ms. Johanna Calleja spent one week with the Galway Chamber in Ireland and another with the South and East Cheshire Chamber Group in England. Mr. Kevin J. Borg spent one week with the Portsmouth and South East Hampshire Chamber of Commerce and another week in Barcelona. The benefit accruing from this participation exceeded beyond anticipation.
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