By Isaac Salima
President Lazarus Chakwera has emphasised that neighbourly relations are key to shoring up agriculture production and trade among countries.
Chakwera said this at Chichiri Trade Fair Grounds in Blantyre, where Mozambique President Filipe Nyusi, who was the guest of honour, presided over the opening of this year’s National Agriculture Fair.
The Malawi leader said to achieve long-term vision goals, concerted efforts were crucial.
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“I have shared with you that in our pursuit of new trade deals with African countries to secure markets here on the continent for our products, we need to start with securing trade and cooperation deals with neighbouring countries with whom we share our border, which is why I visited all of our neighbouring countries within my first six months in office.
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“I have shared with you that in our building of trade relations within this neighbourhood [that] Malawi is part of, the country with which we share more of our border than any other is Mozambique, a country of strategic importance to our long-term strategic goals because of its strategic access to the sea,” Chakwera said.
He touted bilateral ties with Mozambique.
“I have shared with you that in order to leverage this siamese twin brother we are connected to, we must not only build solid and sustainable diplomatic relations that create the necessary trust and terms of engagement for trade, but we must also build both the necessary transport infrastructure to give Malawi access to the Mozambican market and the sea, as well as the necessary energy infrastructure to power our shared interest in industrialisation,” Chakwera said.
In his remarks, Nyusi said the good relationship of the two countries had been impactful.
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He mentioned the Nsanje-Marka-Nampula railway project, the Malawi-Mozambique Interconnector power project and Dedza- Mwanza one-stop border post, which he described as key to facilitating cross-border trade between the two countries.
However, Nyusi decried the reduced level of trade between Malawi and Mozambique.
“Malawi does not appear on the list of top 10 trading partners of Mozambique. The same applies to Mozambique,” Nyusi said.
On his part, Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry President Wisely Phiri called on the two countries to expedite the implementation of the Simplified Trade Regime Framework and One-Stop Border Post arrangements.
“This initiative is important for reducing trade barriers and ensuring more efficient cross-border commerce, which is essential for the economic growth and integration of our region,” Phiri said.
This year’s fair is being held under the theme ‘Driving towards Export-Oriented Agriculture through Commercialisation and Innovation’.
The fair ends Saturday.
