The Malawi government on Wednesday signed a military cooperation agreement with the United States of America.
Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation George Chaponda and US Ambassador to Malawi Virginia Palmer signed the cooperation agreement between the two governments in Lilongwe.
“Malawi has a strong record of military discipline, peaceful coexistence, military defence of the Constitution, and leadership in supporting regional peace and stability,” Palmer said after the signing ceremony.
She added: “I am pleased to put in place a framework agreement to facilitate future collaboration and training opportunities to sustain and further expand Malawi’s ability to protect its people while contributing to a strong, peaceful, and prosperous region.”
The agreement is in line with a consistent longstanding bilateral agreement on US assistance to Malawi.
It provides the framework for continued military cooperation, assistance, and training collaboration between the two countries.
In recent years, the United States has supported the Malawi Defence Forces (MDF) by helping to train and equip eight battalions of Malawian peacekeepers, supported the establishment of the first-ever senior noncommissioned officers’ course at the Malawi Armed Forces College (Mafco), sponsored large peacekeeping exercises with militaries from the region hosted in Malawi, and provided dozens of other training opportunities for MDF leaders, officers, and soldiers.
Under discussion since 2013, the military cooperation agreement provides a framework that will enable such mutually agreed upon military activities to continue as a critical component of the broad US-Malawi partnership.
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