President Lazarus Chakwera has reiterated the call for rich nations of the world to cancel debts that poor countries owe them.
Chakwera was speaking at Kamuzu Palace on Friday during the Second Voice of Global South Summit hosted virtually by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Malawi leader said one thing the world needs to cure the South-North economic disparities is for the debts of the most vulnerable nations to be cancelled.
He said the impacts of Covid, climate disasters and global conflicts require resources that are currently being drained by debt service payment obligations that are shrinking the fiscal space of poor countries.
The President said this derails development plans and results in postponement of the achievement of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the 2031 Doha Programme of Action for Least Developed Countries.
“The resources that we would save by cancelling the debts can be ring-fenced to build the capacity of countries in the Global South in the areas of health, education, digitisation, energy, trade, industry and infrastructure, because these are all enablers of economic growth.
“In this respect, initiatives like the India-Africa Growth Partnership of 2005, which has facilitated an increase in development, trade and investment cooperation between Africa and India, should be fully supported,” Chakwera said.
He further said it is not sufficient for developing countries to advocate for better terms for their participation in the global economy.
The President said the disparities in the terms were made “painfully plain” by the Covid pandemic, which “exposed the philosophy of segregation and western imperialism at the root of such neo-colonial policies like vaccine procurement and travel bans”.
Chakwera said the Global South needs to be fully and permanently incorporated in the multilateral institutions and fora of global governance at decision-making levels.
“One such forum is the [Conference of the Parties (CoP28)] summit coming up in two weeks, where we need the Global South to lobby as a bloc for a more efficient, transparent and diligent system of climate financing than the current one, for it is an injustice that the commitments made at CoP27 on replenishing the Green Climate Fund and operationalising the Loss and Damage Fund are yet to be fulfilled,” he said.
On his part, Modi said the Global South has the largest stakes in the future as three-quarters of the global population live in countries in this part of the world.
“Most of the global challenges have not been created by the Global South. But they affect us more.
“We have seen this in the impacts of the Covid pandemic, climate change, terrorism and even the Ukraine conflict. The search for solutions also does not factor in our role or our voice,” Modi said.
He added that as India begins its G20 presidency this year, it is natural that its aim is to amplify the voice of the Global South.
“Despite the challenges the developing world faces, I remain optimistic that our time is coming.
The need of the hour is to identify simple, scalable and sustainable solutions that can transform our societies and economies.
“With such an approach, we shall overcome the difficult challenges—whether it is poverty, universal healthcare or building human capacities.
“In the last century, we supported each other in our fight against foreign rule. We can do it again in this century, to create a new world order that will ensure the welfare of our citizens is improved,” Modi said.
At a number of fora, Chakwera has pleaded with rich countries to consider cancelling debts for African countries including Malawi or, at least, restructuring repayment modalities.
For instance, at the opening of the China- Africa Economic and Trade Expo in China in June, the President appealed to that country to soften up on Malawi regarding the debts.
He repeated the call at the United Nations General Assembly in September this year when he called on developed countries and global lending institutions to consider cancelling debts owed by struggling economies.
