The Mediterranean Islands of Malta, Gozo & Comino

Malta, officially the Republic of Malta is an archipelago in the central Mediterranean, 50 miles south of Sicily. Malta, the larger island of the 3 (Malta, Gozo & Comino) covers 316km (122 square miles) in land area making it the smallest state. The country has two official languages, Maltese being the National language and English. Throughout history Malta has played an important role given its great strategic location. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a Republic in 1974 whilst retaining membership in the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004. Malta is also party to the Schengen Agreement and in 2008 became part of the Eurozone.
Malta is a well-known and popular tourist destination with plenty of recreational areas and historical monuments including nine UNESCO world heritage sites, having the oldest freestanding structures in the world the 10,000BC Megalithic Temples. The improvement of the tourism infrastructure and the large number of high quality hotels, Malta has increased the number of tourists visiting each year.
Malta is classified as an advanced economy together with 32 other countries according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Film production is a growing contributor to the Maltese economy with a large number of big budget foreign films shooting in Malta every year. The country has also increased the exports of services such as banking and finance. Since joining the EU Malta has established itself as a global player in the cross border fund administration business. The work force is multi lingual and has a strong Anglo Saxon legal system. The MFSA, Malta’s regulator has been successful in attracting fund administration, aircraft and ship registration, gaming businesses, and credit card issuing bank licences.
Malta enjoys a subtropical climate with hot summers and mild winters and rain is a rarity. Malta has one of the highest sunshine results in Europe with around 3000 hours per year.