DIRECTORY OF CRAFTSMEN AND ENTREPRENEURS

This Ministry’s name in itself stresses on the significance of Competitiveness, which occupies also a key role in the Lisbon Strategy,
aiming at having Europe as the most competitive economy worldwide. One of the essential steps towards reaching this goal is more investment in Research and Innovation.

It is significant that local Craftsmen while keeping faithful to our traditional Maltese characteristics are finding ways and means to be more creative and innovative. Moreover, not only has the quality been retained but in
many cases also considerably improved. This Directory compiled by the Malta Crafts Council with the assistance of the Commerce Division of my Ministry gives an idea of the versatility and wide range of local craftsmen.

My Ministry is duty bound to assist local craftsmen and to publicise their accomplishments as widely as possible. In this regard I would like to express my full support to the Malta Crafts Council in this endeavour.

I hope this Directory will be a useful tool to enable the consumer and entrepreneur to access more easily the high quality works of Malta’s craft sector.

Dear Craftspersons and Entrepreneurs,

When, about nine years ago, I was appointed for the first time as Parliamentary Secretary, directly responsible for the small businesses and the self employed, one of the first Acts that I considered of introducing had the aim of structuring a legal
framework to support crafts persons and entrepreneurs who deal in craft products.It was through this Act that the Government set up the Malta Crafts Council.

The purpose of this Act was to establish an entity that would keep continuous consultations with the craftspersons and entrepreneurs involved in the crafts trade. The consultation process was is intended to direct the government about the line of marketing that should be adopted to promote the local crafts.

One way of marketing the manufacture and the sale of craft products by the craftspersons and the entrepreneur, respectively, was the publication of the Directory of craftspersons and entrepreneurs registered with the Council. This is the second edition of the Directory.
This Directory, together with the work carried out by the Council and the support given to the craftspersons by the Small Businesses and Crafts Directorate within the Commerce Division, are ways through which the Government is assisting the craftpersons in overcoming the competition.

Today the crafts sector is confronting new challenges. In these circumstances the best protection that the crafts sector could be afforded would be to have a Malta Crafts Council that would offer constant consultation with craftpersons. The feedback from the craftspersons would assist the Malta Crafts Council in taking innovative decisions. In this way the Council would provide proactive leadership to this sector, where the craftspersons would not only resort for protection but would find a strategic means to enable them to have a competitive edge in the crafts market.

I wish that in the future the Malta Crafts Council would have a more effective role and also that the craftspersons indulge in a more sustainable activity. I believe that the Council and the craftspersons should not just be content with the good work that they are accomplishing but should continuously strive to improve and deliver more by becoming pro-active and take advantage of the circumstances to overcome competition.