• Holland And Barrett Vitamins Gibraltar Offer

Jul 01 - Gibraltar House Brussels Hosts ESBA Board Meeting

Gibraltar House Brussels hosted a board meeting of the European Small Business Association (ESBA), which has its headquarters in the city and represents over one million small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed people from 35 countries.

The Gibraltar Federation of Small Businesses was a founding member of ESBA, and currently participates in it as a Board member.

The Budget of Her Majesty's Government of Gibraltar, adopted last week, focuses strongly on small businesses: cuts were made to import duties, social insurance contributions for employers and employees were frozen and social insurance contributions on secondary employment were abolished, and a subsidy of 150% on skills training was introduced so that an employer can offset 150% of the cost of skills training against tax.

The Government places strong importance on the EU Better Regulation Agenda and the EU Digital Single Market. Unless Europe is able to make progress in these and other areas of an agenda to boost growth and competitiveness, its economy will decline further and faster in relation to those of its competitors.

This is why Gibraltar’s Small Business Association is a proud member of the ESBA, and Gibraltar House Brussels looks forward to working with both organisations as part of its wider strategy to showcase Gibraltar in Europe.

In his welcome remarks Sir Graham Watson, Former MEP for South West England and Gibraltar, said: "European Small Business Association is the driving force of Europe's economy. Gibraltar is a great European success story as an Overseas Territory that is part of Europe that knows the importance of the agenda of securing equal rights for all EU Citizens.

"I look forward to the role we in this office can play in cooperation with you in advancing Europe's agenda for entrepreneurs."

{fcomment}