Whatever happened to Chinese investment?

Article from Malta Independent.

Last week I wrote dispassionately about the dearth of Libyan investment in Malta, notwithstanding the fact that the Libyans have a very dynamic Libyan Investment Authority while backing a new London hedge fund with hundreds of millions of dollars. This apart, they are training a generation of investment professionals in the ways of the financial markets. Although this is being done through a UK registered company, apart from managing money on behalf of funds linked to the Libyan government, the fund is also offering various training schemes for the nascent finance industry in Libya, both by way of class room training and hands on trading experience at the fund.

Malta should have been and in my opinion still is well placed to offer such a transfer of investment technology by also helping them create a generation of good level financial practitioners with a high technical international financial knowledge.

This week I intend to focus on the shortage of direct Chinese investment in Malta.

While Greece continues to brace itself against the challenges of a debt ridden economy it has made the virtually impossible by not only tapping the world’s pre eminent emerging economy that is China, but it has also managed to strike some 14 investment deals that are according to the international media perceived as being the biggest single investment by China in Europe.

Why has Chinese investment been so slow to move towards our island? Have we been sufficiently or insufficiently pro-active in our marketing drive? Have niche areas been adequately addressed?

The impression I got last year was that our embassy was quite active in this regard, but knowing how Malta tends to lag behind when it comes to follow-ups and implementation, I sincerely hope that we are not slipping down the ladder through insufficient drive and a lack of a single minded pursuit on our part.

I am not saying so in a partisan manner but I still recall having met an eminent Algerian diplomat some years back over dinner, who told me that although the State visit by former President Fenech Adami to his country had been quite successful, the follow-ups from the Maltese side to concrete areas of cooperation were badly lacking.

During our China visit last year we had met the famous ‘Captain Wei’ as the Greeks call him, who is none other than Cosco’s Chairman Wei Jiafu. When we met him in his impressive Beijing offices not only were we impressed by the excellent presentation we were regaled with but also by his spot-on global knowledge and excellent communication skills.

One area which Malta can ill afford to neglect vis-a-vis China is that of alternative energy where it is making great strides forward... daily!

The feedback I have from various key players is that the Maltese authorities have been quite cool to any serious collaboration in this sector. The least they can do is explore such possibilities further particularly when China is braced to become the field leader in the clean technology sector. If we miss out, it will be a missed opportunity for us rather than for them.



Energy efficiency – the way forward

Whenever there is a change in government it is customary to pick faults in the conduct of affairs of the previous administration in any sector.

But it seems that inspite of their tight legislation and high profile regarding climate issues, according to recent statistics, the Brits ended up as EU laggards in this area... with the exclusion of Malta!

Possibly spurred on by the Lib Dem component of the new coalition, the Cameron government is all out to incentivise further the energy efficiency sector.

This is the general feeling amongst the British business sector too.

Most UK companies are not yet investing in energy efficiency as they should or would like to do, but would if the government offered them tax incentives to do so.

Sadly, two thirds of UK companies have been found to have no company policy to invest in energy efficient equipment and that among SMEs the figure rises to almost three quarters. Alarming indeed, one is inclined to argue!

After all, as recently pointed out, SMEs make up the majority of businesses in the UK and account for half of its turnover.

What is even more interesting is that more than three quarters of companies declared that if such incentives existed they would significantly accelerate their green investments.

Worrying indeed is the fact that only a fifth of UK companies monitor their carbon footprint while only 12 per cent of SMEs monitor their footprint.

Meanwhile around one-third of UK companies monitor their energy consumption.

On a local level if we are to meet our ambitious targets to reduce carbon emissions, meeting them will require business to significantly increase its investment in energy efficiency.

One cannot dismiss lightly the cost barriers. Take up of green equipment and monitoring initiatives will remain disappointingly low unless they become more affordable too.

If low carbon business tech remains limited in range and continues to be sold at premium pricing, the take up will be expected to remain low.

While buildings today worldwide are known to account for 40 per cent of the world’s energy use, resulting in CO2 emissions significantly higher than those of the transport sector, it is worth noticing that Malta remains a laggard on building energy regulations.

Certain measures that should have been introduced by the beginning of last year have not only not come on stream yet. But inspite of a Ministerial parliamentary pledge that the EPC Portal, that should have been internet based together with an appropriate back end should have started working by end-April this year, notwithstanding the fact that we are mid-way through the month of June, by now, not a single building has been certified yet.

As usual we continue to blame it on software problems.

Last week the Minister told me feebly in Parliament that he is informed that the testing of the relevant programme is in its final stages as far as Building Energy Regulations are concerned. He attributed this to the usual mantra – a number of technical problems that resulted during the testing period and which thus led to an inevitable delay.

When I asked him when is the customisation of software based on the British SBEM system meant to be in place for non dwellings, as stipulated by EU regulations, I was informed that such customisation is not expected to be in place before January 2011.

Bearing in mind how government repeatedly fails to honour its own time lines, one might find it opportune to diarise that!

Louis Agius

The sad demise of former San Gwann FC President Louis Agius came as a great shock to many of us who always admired him for the excellent, calm and professional manner in which he steered the club ahead for 16 whole years. I equally admire the way in which he kept up his contacts in San Gwann although not holding office any more in the same club.

He was a jovial person, down to earth, never wearing a frown on his face, easy to get along with and most engaging in any type of conversation.

He could blend with all types of social strata, aided and abetted as he was also by his excellent marketing skills as well honed through his profession.

Although Louis did not have to pass away for me to realise how highly esteemed he was, I was nevertheless overwhelmed by the support, following and respect he continued to command in the village of San Gwann as well as amongst the numerous friends and colleagues who attended his funeral at St Julian’s.

The San Gwann FC deserve a pat on the back for the corteo they organised from the Mensija Bar area in Naxxar Road to the San Gwann football club itself where he was showered with flowers by committee members who still hold him in high esteem.

San Gwann FC might have never consisted of big league players but he made each one of them feel ten feet tall with pride and satisfaction as well as through his strong sense of inclusivity.

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