The Houston Intercontinental Chamber of Commerce (HICC) and Malta Enterprise have signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which they agreed to attract investment from the United States to Malta and to support Maltese firms wanting to do business in the US.
HICC is the largest and most influential chamber of commerce in the state of Texas, USA. Its members range from small businesses to some of the largest corporations on the Fortune 500 list. Amongst its affiliates are such companies as Halliburton, AT&T, Noble Energy and Lone Star College.
HICC President Reggie Gray was in Malta on a fact finding mission intended to establish priority sectors for cooperation. During his visit he met, amongst others, with the Minister for Health and Energy, Dr Konrad Mizzi. Houston is considered to be the oil and gas capital of the world as well as the US premier medical and healthcare hub.
Mr Gray also visited a number of important companies in the aviation services, engineering and pharmaceutical sectors. He also met with officials from the Office of the Prime Minister, Transport Malta, Customs, Inland Revenue, as well as the Film Commissioner.
Malta Enterprise chairman, Dr Mario Vella, described the agreement signed with HICC as a major breakthrough in Malta’s business relations with the United States.