Government plans to roll out the Agriculture, Tourism and Mining (ATM) promotion week starting from this year, Times Business has established.
Information Minister Moses Kunkuyu confirmed the development in an interview, recently, saying the week will run from April 19 to 27.
He said the week will be characterised by an Agriculture Investment Conference, an International Tourism Expo and a Mining Investment Forum.
Kunkuyu said the ATM strategy is a brainchild of President Lazarus Chakwera inspired by his desire to see the country swiftly achieving food security, stimulating job creation and fostering wealth generation with a strategic focus on enhancing productivity within the ATM sectors.
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“According to the President, by prioritising and coordinating efforts to boost productivity in these pivotal sectors, substantial economic growth can be catalysed.
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“In line with this vision and as a starting point, the President has directed that in the final week of April 2024, the government should host the first ever ATM Promotion Week, which will feature an Agriculture Investment Conference, an International Tourism Expo and Standard (MS) 21:2002; Food and food processing units— code of hygienic conditions— exposing the products and or services to significant food safety risk,” the statement reads.
The standards body says it will continue monitoring premises to ascertain levels of hygiene.
“In the interest of public health safety, and based on the provisions of the Malawi Bureau of Standards Act (Cap 51:02), sections 34(1) and 39(1), the MBS hereby exercises its mandate to issue suspension orders to these business operators until all registered shortfalls are addressed as stipulated in the relevant Malawi Standard and the suspension is lifted,” MBS says.
MBS is mandated to promote metrology, standardisation and quality assurance of commodities in the country.
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On March 22 this year, MBS asked its officers, Malawi Police Service personnel and workers
a Mining Investment Forum,” Kunkuyu said.
In his 2024-25 national budget, Finance Minister Simplex Chithyola Banda said to develop and catalyse growth, the government has identified anchor sectors that have been chosen for their potential to contribute to economic growth.
“The anchor sectors are Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining, commonly referred to as ATM.
“The ATM Strategy will further help to boost domestic revenue in this budget; therefore, the ATM sectors will have significant allocations, and the government will focus on developing national legal and institutional frameworks for protecting natural resources,” Chithyola Banda said.
Speaking during the 2nd US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington DC during a Leader’s Session on Promoting Food Security and Food Systems Resilience, Chakwera appealed to investors to support the ATM strategy.
“I announced to the people of Malawi that my mission in pursuit of this vision was to attract investment and trade in three sectors that I believe hold the greatest promise for unlocking Malawi’s vast potential for achieving job creation, wealth creation and food security. I call our focus on these three sectors Malawi’s ATM Strategy, with A standing for Agriculture, T for Tourism, and M for Mining.
“In summary, a partnership between Malawi and the United States in Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining, akin to the partnership we have had in energy and road infrastructure through two multi-million dollar Millennium Challenge Compacts, can radically transform Malawi into the inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation we envision for ourselves, a nation whose wealth we refuse to lose through illicit financial flows by foreign plunderers or through the corrupt acts of domestic ones,” Chakwera said.
