Source:  Maltese Chinese Chamber of Commerce Newsletter September/October 2011

We apologize to our readers for failing to issue the September issue of our newsletter which has now been combined with that of October. I was on a gruelling three weeks visit to China. I could not keep up with the deluge of work that was needed to keep our appointment with our readers.
In China I took part in a very important conference. I had the honour to be one of the main speakers in a conference on China/Europe People to People Dialogue which was organised in Beijing and Tianjin¸ by the Chinese People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries and the Municipal Government of Tianjin.

A number of distinguished speakers from Europe also addressed the conference.  These included Romano Prodi¸ former Prime Minister of Italy and former President of the European Commission¸ Lucian Cernat¸ chief trade economist with the European Commission¸ Markus Ederer¸ Head of the EU delegation in China and Andrea Goldstein Head of the global relations of OECD Development division. The conference was opened by the Vice Premier of China¸ Li Keqiang. Chen Haosu a well known political personality in China also spoke and announced his retirement.  The conference was attended by over 3OO delegates from Europe and China.  I had the opportunity to meet several European and Chinese businessmen who lamented that Malta’s advantages as an investment haven is not very well known in China. I was interviewed by CCTV and the Tianjin Television network and spoke about these advantages.  The highlight of my visit to Beijing was the award of the Friendship Medal that was presented to me by Chen Hao Su¸ in recognition of my contribution for many years of fostering the relations between the people of Malta and China.  I also visited Shanghai and Hong Kong where I met various organisations and businessmen that would certainly enhance the reputation of the MCCC in China and Europe. In Hong Kong¸ I had the opportunity to visit the Hong Kong Chamber of Commerce.

Reno Calleja
Executive Editor  Read more