Lazarus Chakwera meets UK parliamentary group
President Lazarus Chakwera Tuesday had two engagements in the United Kingdom (UK), where he is expected to attend the Global Education Summit.
He had a meeting with the All Party Parliamentary Group on Malawi at Westminster Abbey before proceeding to grant an interview to the BBC.
The State House indicated that, during the meeting, the President articulated pillars of Malawi 2063 and his agenda to create jobs, wealth and food security.
The Malawi leader cited education, energy, mining, agriculture, industry, infrastructure, trade, green economics and governance as some of the areas that would benefit from his administration’s investments.
“The last time I met this group of advocates for Malawi was when I visited Westminster as Malawi’s Leader of Opposition [in Parliament].
“I am grateful for the chance to tell these friends how we can work more closely to build a new Malawi going forward,” wrote Chakwera on his Facebook page after the meeting.
The President also used the opportunity to advocate Covid vaccine equality as critical to the restoration of human dignity and the global economy.
He argued that the goal of global efforts to roll out vaccination programmes should be the creation of a world in which everyone feels safe everywhere.
Moderator of the interaction, Patrick Grady, said he was delighted that Chakwera was back at Westminster, having last seen him when he visited as opposition leader.
According to the State House Facebook page, Jack McConnell, who is an “avid advocate for Malawi”, thanked the President for going in person to “turn the good will that Malawi enjoys in the international community into good development programmes for Malawi”.
Later in the day, Chakwera had an interview with Sarah Montague on ‘Hard talk’, which will be broadcast on BBC World on Thursday, July 29 2021.
Today, the Malawi leader is expected to have a series of meetings. He is expected to leave the UK on July 31.
Mathews Kasanda is a journalist who holds a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from University of Malawi (The Polytechnic).
In 2015, Media Institute of Southern Africa awarded him the Best Print Media Education Journalist of the Year accolade.
He joined Times Group Newsroom in September 2019.
