Malta has been an independent state since 1964, following more than 150 years of British colonial rule, and became a republic within the British Commonwealth in 1974. In April 2003, the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister signed the EU accession treaty and the country became a full member of the EU in May 2004.

Malta has two official languages, Maltese and English, which are both widely spoken.

Economy:
The Maltese economy has undergone considerable change during the last few decades. The presence of the British forces on the islands and the commercial activity they generated had played a crucial part in the economy for over a century, and when they finally withdrew in 1979, it had a significant negative impact on the islands prosperity. Since then, Malta has established a diversified economy, and has been preparing for EU membership by privatising state controlled companies and introducing a variety of legislation to liberalise markets

Figures from the National Statistics Office show Malta's GDP was approximately 3.5 billion USD in 2001. The country's economy is largely based on the tourist, manufacturing and financial services industries. Tourism is the single biggest industry and, according to the World Travel and Tourism Council, accounting for 14 per cent of GDP in 2002. The Malta Development Corporation states that there are approximately 200 foreign and 400 locally owned manufacturing companies operating in Malta. Some of the main manufacturing products produced include clothing and textiles, electronics, processed food and tobacco products. There is also a significant ship building and repair industry.

Infrastructure:
The island has an excellent air and sea connections to all parts of the world. Malta International Airport, situated in the south of Malta received a new terminal in 1992 and is capable of handling 6 million passengers a year. It offers flights to and from a wide variety of destinations including London, Milan, Paris and Rome and catered for nearly 2.7 million passengers in 2002. All destinations in Europe, North Africa can be reached within 3 hours.

Malta's strategic position in the centre of the Mediterranean Sea has helped it to become and important distribution hub. The country has two harbours at Valletta and Marsaxlokk and is served by a large number of shipping lines including the national shipping line, Sea Malta, which offers weekly connections to all major destinations in the Mediterranean. The port of Valletta, also known as the Grand Harbour, is a natural deep-water harbour extending about 3.5 kilometres inland and is in operation 24 hours a day throughout the year. In 1988, Malta Freeport was established in the port of Marsaxlokk, which has subsequently become a major container terminal. .

Malta's has an extensive internal road network comprised of some 1,500 kilometres of roads and journeys between any 2 destinations within Malta take no more than 40 minutes. However, the roads require a significant amount of investment to bring them up to Western European standards.

Workforce:
Figures from the March 2001 Labour Force Survey show that the total number of people employed in Malta is just over 145,000, while the unemployment rate is 3 per cent. Manufacturing was is far the largest employer accounting for 22.4 per cent of jobs, followed by wholesale and retail trade on 14.7 per cent and public administration and defence on 8.8 per cent.

According to the Malta Development Corporation, Malta's workforce is highly skilled, educated and multilingual, with a high percentage of the population speaking English and Italian. There is close partnership between industry, the university and training colleges on Malta, which helps to ensure that the workforce is equipped with the required skills.

New Technology:
To aid the development of new technological initiatives the government has established a Technology Venture Fund, which is administered by the Institute for the Promotion of Small Enterprise and the Malta Development Corporation.
The fund is aimed at small and medium sized companies in a variety of sectors including Biotechnology, e-Business and e-Commerce, Energy, Engineering and Software development and will largely focus on start-ups and firms in the early stages of development.

Business Costs:
In order to stimulate investment and encourage economic growth, the Maltese government has introduced a number of measures which help to reduce the cost of operating in Malta. For example, the Business Promotion Act introduced in 2001 offers a wide range of incentives to businesses, such as tax incentives, soft loans, investment allowances and training assistance.