MBR_Issue_29 -March 2017 ALL

CORPORATE INTERVIEW OF THE MONTH
Malta Business Review
Paragon Europe
with an active role during
Malta’s EU Presidency
Paragon Europe’s vision is to positively change our world for the better by assisting
local and European regional stakeholders in sourcing EU funding to implement
EU projects, bringing professional excellence to bear on behalf of the community.
Paragon’s commitment to excellence is now being extended to Malta’s EU Presidency
with a calendar of conferences to be held over the coming months as part of Malta’s
official EU Presidency. EDWIN WARD, Chairman of Paragon Europe speaks to the
Malta Business Review about these forthcoming events.
What does Paragon Europe’s active
involvement in the EU Presidency mean
to you?
For most of us, the thought of tiny Malta
chairing the EU Presidency was a distant
notion, a quasi-impossible idea to even
imagine, let alone experience! And yet,
here we are today, living a historic moment
for our country, witnessing a milestone
achievement for the nation as Europe’s de
facto leaders. This will mean nothing if we
as citizens do not do our part. We are being
called to become protagonists through
active participation by understanding
the challenges, the threats and the
opportunities that lie ahead and together,
to find solutions for us all, and for the next
generations. Perhaps this explains why I am
so proud to Chair a pro-active company like
Paragon Europe at this point in time.
How does this fall within Paragon’s
mission?
Paragon Europe always understood and
embraced the immeasurable opportunities
that EU accession would bring to Malta and
through the vision of Dr. Anton Theuma,
Paragon’s founder, we wanted to grasp
these opportunities to help those with a
mission to bring change in their community.
Through dedication, hard work, innovation
and a lot of travel, Paragon Europe today is
a Maltese company with the professional
will and integrity to contribute both in Malta
and in Europe, to the objectives of the EU
Social Agenda and the ‘headline targets’ of
the Europe 2020 Strategy.
More tangibly, how does Paragon plan to
bring more value to Malta’s EU Presidency?
We started asking ourselves “what can we
as Paragon bring to Malta at this very special
moment in time? How could we leverage
our years of experience in important areas
such as Education and Training, Sustainable
Development and Environment, Energy,
Climate, Transport and Water, Cultural
Heritage and Tourism, Social Inclusion, ICT,
Innovation and Entrepreneurship?” It ws
here that we decided that Paragon Europe
should adopt an active role by doing what
it does best: building collaboration with our
networks and together with them address
some very important issues concerning
Corporate Governance, Climate Change,
Transport, Energy, Innovation Funding,
Intrapreneurship and Unemployment
through a series of milestone conferences.
Will you be tackling any specific subjects
or sectors?
We are looking at the main three priorities
of Malta’s Presidency namely the
Mediterranean, Maritime and Migration.
In line with our mission, we will be
delivering excellence through high-profile
conferences with world-class speakers on
Corporate Governance, Circular Economy,
Urbanisation, Access to Finance and more,
bringing together key stakeholders from
national governments, corporate and civil
society.
The first conference will be the 20th
European Corporate Governance.
Yes, the 20th European Corporate
Governance Conference will be held on May
4th and will be Europe’s most important
corporate governance conference this year.
It will be hosted on behalf of the Institute
of Directors Malta Branch together with
ecoDa with the support of European
Issuers, Business Europe, EY EAME as a
major sponsor and DG Justice, endorsed
by the Ministry of Finance under the
auspices of the Malta Presidency of the
Council of the EU. It will explore corporate
governance as a tool for rebuilding trust,
generating shareholder value, redefining
the CSR debate while discussing recent
changes in corporate governance in the
global context in relation to digitalisation
processes as foreseen in DG Justice’s Green
Paper on Company Law which is expected
to go before the European Parliament in
November and thereafter apply across the
EU. More than 200 European Directors,
Chairmen, CEO’s and Non-Executives are
expected to attend supplemented by local
experts and Directors.
Edwin Ward, Chairman of Paragon Europe
And the second conference will tackle the
environment right?
Indeed. The second conference will be
led by Paragon Europe Executive Director
Dr. Nadia Theuma and the topic will be
specifically Towards a Zero Carbon Economy
in the Mediterranean and Beyond. This
conference will be organised in conjunction
with the EU’s Climate-KIC project and with
the support of the Maltese Ministry for
Sustainable Development, Environment
and Climate Change. This event will tackle
global warming and the fact that if climate
change is not mitigated, within the next 30
years Malta could be very different to how
we know it today. It will also discuss how
innovation will be playing an extremely
important role in confronting the challenges
of climate change and how challenge-led
innovation is confronting climate change.
How do these events build a stronger
context for Malta’s EU Presidency?
Malta’s EU Presidency is indisputably
happening at a very complex time for
EU integration. When one takes into
consideration the fact that Malta will be
the last Mediterranean country to hold the
Presidency before 2020, one understands
better how this is an opportunity for the
Mediterranean region. It is within this
context that Paragon Europe has found a
leading role to raise the profile of important
issues in this historic time for Malta.
For more information about these
forthcoming events and for a more active
collaboration with Paragon Europe, visit
www.paragonevents.eu MBR
www.mbrpublications.net
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