Malta's Business Sector Must Play E-Commerce Catch-Up Says Government Minister

by Mandy Robinson, Tax-news.com, London

11 April 2001

Last week we reported that the Malta Financial Services Centre (MFSC) is considering a strategy to put Malta on the map as one of Europe's major online financial centres with the facility to enable the island to become the first dedicated centre for electronic payments in the world.

But, according to the Malta Independent, e-commerce take-up amongst Malta's business community has been rather slow so far. In an interview, government minister Dr Austin Gatt expressed his concern saying: 'Electronic commerce in Malta, that is - selling over the Internet, has not yet caught up. The initiatives in the private sector so far are few.'

Dr Gatt referred to an 'E-Malta Commission', one of the measures currently under consideration by the MFSC, which would help promote public awareness as well as the business sectors of the commercial and industrial markets in the value of investing in technology. But he told the Malta Independent that the significant absence of technological investment in the country was not limited to the private sector but also in public companies such as Air Malta. 'To this day, the company is not selling tickets electronically,' he said.

Dr Gatt continued: 'We have to foster a take-up of the technology. Some small shops might have difficulty and the government has to find ways to create systems to help small companies. However, we should not belittle what happened so far. Although we might still lag behind in electronic commerce, most companies already have websites.'

According to Dr Gatt, Malta - with its small market - needs the private sector to push forward with its own e-commerce strategies including the creation of some central agencies which, together with the government's planned electronic initiatives, will place Malta firmly on the e-commerce ladder. He explained: 'It is true that the government is moving before the private industry in this field. However, this is the experience of a lot of the small countries, since the initial investment is very high. For e-government to function, we need the input of the private sector.'

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