Finance Minister introduces Business First to Chamber of Commerce

A meeting for Chamber of Commerce members was held yesterday for the launch of Business First at the Exchange Buildings, the first event in an outreach campaign to the business community.

"The Business First initiative is, in itself, a very valid and positive concept which we fully endorse. It will offer a one-stop-shop service to facilitate administrative procedures required for the setting up of a business in Malta, as well as to provide guidance and information to established companies in relations to government-induced processes," said Tancred Tabone, president of the Chamber.

 "The Malta Chamber was the first entity to promote the idea of extending the then called Government Services Unit to all undertakings on the island, thereby creating a one-stop-shop for business," Tabone said. "I am also satisfied to note that the Malta Chamber forms part of the recently set-up Business First Council, whose aim is to ensure that the introduction of the services is smooth and that service delivery continues to improve."

Tabone said the Malta Chamber was also consulted on the setting-up of Business First and it strongly recommended that certain services related to MEPA would also be included amongst the list of services on offer. "This recommendation followed from direct feedback we receive from local SMEs which form the backbone of our membership and larger companies who are also affected by administrative burdens."

As a separate initiative, this service will need to be coupled by a commitment from other government departments and authorities to reduce their administrative burdens on companies, especially SMEs.

Besides these efforts, the role of Business First shall be to eliminate the need for companies to run around all the different departments concerned to fulfil their administrative obligations.  "We are encouraged by the fact that Malta Enterprise shall act as the catalyst in bringing together Public Sector entities to become more business friendly.  We look forward to contribute to the success of Business First to allow our members to concentrate their time and effort on creating jobs and growth," Tabone said.