President Lazarus Chakwera has described as fruitful his visit to China, where he took part in the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo.
Chakwera was speaking on arrival at the Kamuzu International Airport Monday.
Briefing reporters, Chakwera said he met with China’s vice president, other leaders as well as institutions.
The Malawi leader said, during the trip, Malawi signed memoranda of understanding touching on various ministries and that it is now up to Malawi to speed up processes that would help lift the country to a level that Malawians aspire for.
And writing on his Facebook wall, Chakwera said notable positive outcomes from the China trip include the acquisition of a market for 10 million kg of burley and flue-cured tobacco.
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Chakwera described acquisition of the market as a huge incentive to Malawi’s tobacco growers who – through extra efforts – will gain from the economic opportunity.
“In addition, we also reinforced cooperation with China though discussions with government officials and penning of several memoranda of understanding with Huawei Technologies for more cooperation in renewable energy, broadband connectivity, e-government, smart education and ICT talent training.
“On the economic front, and as [a] continuation of negotiations with multilateral creditors, we have also earnestly lobbied our case with China to ease the debt burden that continues to weigh down on our economic prospects,” Chakwera said.
He was optimistic that the continued discussions would, in the end, yield good news, including a new economic programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
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Debt-burdened Malawi wants her debts restructured so that it is able to enter into a new ECF programme with the IMF.
