Maltese Culture

Meetings

• Business meetings are expected to be scheduled in advance. Generally, you should call to request the meeting at least two weeks in advance to arrange a time and place for the meeting.
• Punctuality is expected but is not rigidly observed.
• The common greeting for an initial meeting is shaking hands and exchanging business cards. 
• Those in senior positions are addressed in a formal manner, often with their title followed by their surname. 

Other Considerations

• Refer to your Maltese counterpart by their professional titles until you have established a good working relationship and they suggest moving on to a first-name basis.
• Most businesses in Malta have a family-focused view whereby company loyalty and a family atmosphere is highly valued.
• The largest employer is the state, with a monopoly over many factories and hotels. This means that most people in Malta work for the government. There is also a large number of entrepreneurs, indicating entrepreneurialism is valued and promoted. 
• Gifts are not expected but are considered to be a nice gesture. Good gifts might be items from an expat’s home country, such as sweets or alcohol.
• Business people in Malta generally expect prompt service and correspondence.
• Business in Malta takes time largely due to restrictions and regulations.
• Most business is conducted in English, and most official correspondence and formal documents are written in English. 
• On the Corruption Perception Index (2018), Malta ranks 51st out of 176 countries, receiving a score of 54 (on a scale from 0 to 100). This perception suggests that the country’s public sector is moderately clean from corruption.