Malawi open for business—Lazarus Chakwera
President Lazarus Chakwera has urged investors from across the world to invest in Malawi, saying the country is ready for business.
Chakwera was speaking in Lilongwe Tuesday at the start of the 2023 Malawi Investment Summit currently underway at Bingu International Convention Centre.
This is the second time Malawi is hosting the summit in conjunction with Economist Impact.
The President said Malawi has plenty of opportunities in three strategic areas of agriculture, tourism and mining.
“I have my ministers of Agriculture, Tourism and Mining here to present you with a picture of the prosperity that awaits you here in Malawi if you build your business here.
“And because we are serious when we say that Malawi is open for business, tomorrow I am sending these same Ministers to South Africa to address potential investors there at the Malawi Investment Forum that our embassy is hosting there,” he said.
He added that for decades, Malawi has had public institutions that were meant to regulate sectors of the economy that failed to effectively execute their tasks because of corruption, slowness in execution, incompetence, resource constraints, political sabotage, or because of petty fights by institutional leaders with fragile egos.
The Malawi leader said the institutional dysfunctions that emanate from “these toxic elements often leave many sectors of our economy too disorganised, too neglected, too unregulated, and too exposed to exploitation to attract meaningful investments or to unleash their potential”.
“It is my commitment, therefore, to continue on this path of clearing all the bureaucratic roadblocks in the public sector that delay and derail private sector progress.
“This is also the reason why I established a Presidential Delivery Unit in my office to identify bottlenecks in the public sector that get in the way of results and outcomes…,” Chakwera said.
Agriculture Minister Sam Kawale said investment opportunities are abundant in the agriculture sector, where government is implementing the flagship mega-farms project.
Kawale said government is determined to help the private sector in sourcing the necessary financing to venture into serious agricultural production.
“But production is one end. On the other side, we have the market. As a ministry, we have also been engaging the off-takers to make sure that whatever farmers in Malawi produce, there is a ready market,” the minister said.
On his part, Energy Minister Ibrahim Matola also said an avalanche of opportunities also exist in the energy sector, where government is looking at hydroelectric, solar, coal, wind, thermal and other types of energy to propel industries such as mining and manufacturing.
