Malawi’s High Commissioner to Tanzania Andrew Kumwenda has reiterated the need for the country to strategically focus on enhancing trade and investment with the East African region.
This follows the cancellation of the inaugural Tanzania – Malawi Trade and Investment Forum in Dar es Salam last week due to the death of Vice President Saulos Chilima.
However, Kumwenda said such fora would continue in future depending on coordination between the local private sector and their counterparts in the target country.
“Continuance will depend on how we can reorganise resources because this function was wholly supported by the private sector. The embassy did not put in even one cent into it. We wrote a proposal, we approached companies and from their generosity we were able to hold this,” Kumwenda said.
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He added that once the 21 days of mourning are over, his team will start working on the next slide.
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“So, depending on the success of that, that’s when we can do it. But we have got no definite dates. There are a lot of opportunities for Malawi. Look at what Bakhresa is doing in Malawi.
“That is the kind of investments that we want to drive the economy of Malawi as well,” Kumwenda said.
According to information available on the International Trade Centre (ITC) Trade Map website, in 2022 Malawi imported goods worth $48 million from the East African Community (EAC) and exported goods worth $176.1 million.
Top on the list of Malawi’s exports to the region include oil seeds and oleaginous fruits; miscellaneous grains, seeds and fruit; industrial or medicinal.
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On the other hand, Malawi imports products such as soap, organic surface-active agents, washing preparations and lubricating preparations among others.
In an earlier interview, Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC) Chief Executive Officer Paul Kwengwere said while this was not the first trade and investment forum for Malawi, each event builds upon the previous ones, providing opportunities for networking, knowledge sharing, and deal-making.
“Past fora have yielded notable investments and partnerships, contributing to Malawi’s economic development. One particular example is the Lake Malawi Water Supply Project that was signed between the Government of Malawi and Khato Civils Pty Ltd. Due to the nature and complexity of such projects, it they take time to materialise, however progress is being made.
“It should also be pointed out that due to the proximity of the event, we have seen a lot of interest by Malawians to attend and showcase their products where they are likely to end up signing export deals as it happened at the Malawi Investment Forum in South Africa or fora organised by our counterparts in Zimbabwe and Mozambique (Tete),” Kwengwere said.
