Chris Agius – Parliamentary Secretary for Construction
During the past years, the property sector in Malta and Gozo has seen unprecedented results. Numerous factors have helped so that this sector obtained such results. One can mention the fact that many multinational companies relocated to our country and so foreign workers made Malta their home, the different schemes launched by the Government whereby first time buyers were exempted from paying duty on the first €200,000 on the first time purchase of residential property. This sector continued growing, month after month, and continued experiencing such growth even during the difficult months when the pandemic hit Malta too. The property and construction sector proved its resilience even throughout these difficult months, and was one of the few sectors which never halted its operations.
During the past week, I had the opportunity to be part of a delegation that visited the Expo2020 and CityScape in Dubai. The visit was organized by Property Malta Foundation and was made up of persons coming from the business sector all linked, someway or another, to the Property Sector. The delegation consisted of those whose main operation is the construction sector, others in the sale of property, those in the IT and tax consultancy sector and others in the furnishing and finishings sector. All with one main aim, to attract more business to our country and learn best practices in their particular field.During these few days, the Maltese delegation had meetings with their counterparts from other countries and had also the opportunity to visit the pavillions at the Expo. There we visited our own stand, the Malta Pavillion. On one occasion, Malta Enterprise organised an event where foreign investors were invited. We all had the opportunity to meet and discuss what our country has to offer. I am convinced that all of those present from our delegation had fruitful meetings during this visit.
During this stay in Dubai we also visited Cityscape, which is one of the biggest Property Fairs in the World. Property Malta had participated in Cityscape some 3 years ago, and at the time we had our own stand. The encouraging results obtained by those who had participated with us at Cityscape at the time, and also other Property Fairs we visited (ExpoReal in Munich) motivated us to organise again this visit with such a distinguished delegation.
Besides visiting these opportunities and making new foreign contacts, I believe that this visit gave us all the opportunity to appreciate more one another, and know better each other and what he/his company has to offer. Although all of those present with us have been in business for a good number of years, I am more than convinced that new business relationships will follow between the local companies present in Dubai.
Looking back at how and what has been achieved by the Emirates, notably Dubai and Abu Dhabi, one has to appreciate the resilience and vision of their leaders and their peoples. Until the sixties, they lacked the most basic of needs such as healthcare and schools. But as they struck oil, they invested heavily in their country and the people reaped from these investments. Although oil and gas remain an important part of their economy, they have diversified and inbound tourism is a main pillar of its economy.
With modesty one can compare the changes our country has been through with how the Emirates has evolved through the years. Our country was a naval base until the early seventies, depending heavily on the British services. Then our governments decided to diversify with tourism and manufacturing taking the lead as the main pillars of our economy. Although tourism and manufacturing remain an important part of our economy, changes continued and we succeeded in attracting new investments notably in the financial and gaming sector.
This experience in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, with such a hardworking group, will definitely leave its mark and lead to further opportunities for our local businesses.
