Chamber vice-president Tonio Casapinta passes away

Active entrepreneur, honorary consul, and promoter of Maltese trade relations abroad, Tonio Casapinta, has passed away

Tonio Casapinta (right) signing an MOU with the Omani Chamber of Commerce
Tonio Casapinta (right) signing an MOU with the Omani Chamber of Commerce

One of Malta’s most active of entrepreneurs, Tonio Casapinta, has passed away at the age of 68.

The chairman of Casapinta Design Group, Casapinta was the director of Pan Libya, a joint venture with the ATEX, the international exhibition organisation in Libya.

Educated at St Aloysius College, Birkirkara, he became an established exhibition designer, a member of the British Chartered Society of Designers and a Fellow of the London Institute of Professional Designers.

Casapinta also served as Honorary Consul General of the Czech Republic in Malta since 1995 and as Council Member of the Malta Trade Fairs Corporation, Malta Society of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce and the Libyan-Maltese Chamber of Commerce.

He co-founded the Honorary Consular Corps of Malta, having been elected secretary in 2007 and Deputy Dean in 2012.

Casapinta was a member of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta in the rank of Knight of Magistral Grace and was decorated by the same Order with the title “Pro Merito Melitensi – Cross of Commander. He was also awarded the “Gratias Agit” Award by the Czech Ministry of Foreign Affairs for services to the Country in 2003.

Having been a member of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry since 1985, Casapinta served as Council Member and Honorary Assistant Treasurer of the Malta Chamber of Commerce and Enterprise between 2001-2003 and 2006-2008 respectively, prior to the merger with the Federation of Industry

In 2013, he was appointed Chairman of the Middle East Business Council and Deputy Chairman of the North Africa Business Council under the auspices of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, Enterprise and Industry.

In 2015 he was appointed as one of the directors on the Board of TradeMalta, the joint venture between the Malta government and the Chamber of Commerce, forming an exclusive agency to promote Malta’s exports and service overseas, as well as vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce.