Malta Trade Fair

July 2006 Printed in The Times of Malta - National Newspaper

 

For the first time, the Malta Trade Fair was officially opened by Prime Minister George Borg Olivier in 1969. It was an honour for Adrian Busietta, then president of the Malta Trade Fairs Corporation, "since the Trade Fair had always been opened by a junior minister".

"At the time, the main aim of the fair was to attract as many foreign Countries With their pavilions as possible. We even managed the impossible and had the American. Chinese and Russian pavilions at the same time," reminisced Chevalier Busietta, who is currently writing a book about his memoirs.

Up to 1969, the Trade Fair was the one and only fair held in Malta. Specialised fairs started to take off a short while after. Chevalier Busietta was a founder member of the Malta International Trade Fair between 1962 and 1973 and vice-president between 1964 and 1968, after which he was elected youngest president in 1969 and 1970.

He was very active in the Malta Chamber of Commerce and was elected its 39th youngest president in 1975 and again in 1976 and is honorary council member for life. Chevalier Busietta was also chairman and founder member of the Maltese-Arab Chamber of Commerce, covering the whole Arab world from Morocco to Saudi Arabia, and president between 1991 and 2001.

Former Malta Trade Fairs Corporation Presidents before his time include the late Michael Grech in 1952, the late Anthony Griscti between 1953 and 1960, the late Anthony Miceli Farrugia in 1961 and 1964 and the late George E. Camilleri between 1962 and 1963.

Although Malta experienced a big boom in the Sixties, attracting investment proved extremely difficult. In 1962, Malta had a fortress economy and thousands of British employees with the British Army, Navy and Air Force would be unemployed by Malta's Independence in 1964.

The Malta Dry-docks had around 14.000 employees who would also be laid off. Similarly, the Services; the Army, Navy and Air Force, with thousands of civilians, would also lose their jobs.

Initially things looked bleak but then, just before Malta's independence, the British Government through an agreement with Dr Borg Olivier offered Malta a 50 million pound grant to convert the Maltese economy within five years from 1964 to 1969 from a fortress economy into an industrial, tourist and financial one.

Before gaining independence Malta was also a country which relied heavily on importers. The Chamber of Commerce at the time was made up of around 1,000 companies, including property owners or importers who sold and rented property to the British Army especially in areas such as Msida, Sliema, Gzira and Paceville who used to be called to rent out blocks of apartments for long periods of 21 years.

"Before and after leaving Malta, the British were very helpful. They helped form the Malta Development Corporation, which eventually made all forms of investment, including direct ownership of industrial enterprises, such as Bulebel Industrial Estate, Zejtun, as well as tile Marsa and Mriehel Industrial Estates, and eventually many others.

Around 100 hotels and 100 factories were being planned for Malta at the time," Chevalier Busietta said. "For the first time, we had to stick our necks out and go out on our own not to lose our brain drain to countries like Canada, America, Australia and England.

We didn't want to lose the small market we had." It was a success story and around 4.000 sewers arrived in Malta every year. Malta, almost ovemight, became one of the best tax havens in Europe. "

These six-penny settlers, as they were called bought villas in Santa Marija Estate in Mellieha, and were extravagant spenders. All of a sudden Malta was full of prosperous people, who were also allowed, as in Montecarlo, to import one tax-free car. Malta suddenly became full of Bentleys and Rolls Royces".

"Malta was still unknown but it was an exciting time, visiting the embassies in Rome trying to sell Malta, since as a result of gaining independence two big things had happened - Malta was left with no British embassy and no prestige.

So we needed to set up our own embassies. This was a very expensive exercise but needed to be done," Chevalier Busiette said. "You cannot be an independent country without showing your flag abroad. We had to prove ourselves and build everything from scratch. Maltese ambassadors did a great job. They promoted Malta as a business island not as a British colony, though we were the envy of most Europeans under the British.

"The 16th edition of the Malta International Fair came amid all these exciting developments in Malta. It was a time when Malta was striving towards a progressive betterment of its economic circumstances, trying hard to find both the material and human resources to achieve its goals. But, Malta has always looked at its future with confidence and did not fail to face the challenge on the way to economic independence with determination and courage.

Proof of this - take a good look at Malta today!