By Staff Reporter

His Excellency the President of the Republic of Malawi, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, has delivered his maiden COMESA speech at the 22nd summit underway at Mulungushi International Conference Centre in Lusaka, Zambia.

Tradition has it, within COMESA protocols, that heads of government and state who assume office in between two successive sessions deliver primary speeches to outline expectations and impress their agenda within the bloc’s system during their tenure.

Other leaders who carried out similar protocols were Kenya’s William Ruto and Libya’s vice president Abdullah al-Lafi.

In his remarks, President Chakwera has called upon the COMESA bloc to accelerate economic integration so that member states collectively recover strongly from setbacks such as Cyclones Idai and Freddy, Tropical Storms Ana and Gombe, droughts, the Russia –Ukraine war, Covid-19 and cholera.

The Malawi leader noted that in the absence of unity, other foreign forces will manipulate African economic systems to their advantage.

“Our economic integration is a matter of urgency because since the time we ratified the African Continental Free Trade Area, there have already been forces from beyond our continent moving into position to work our own economic framework to their advantage rather than ours,” he said.

He added: “As such, if we do not quickly get our act together with economic integration on our own terms, it may very well be that by the time we fully integrate, the mechanism will have already been rigged against us to ensure that the beneficiaries of our economic integration are non-African economies.”
President Chakwera presented Malawi’s economic aspirations as espoused in the national development blueprint, Malawi2063, under what is termed as the ATM strategy.

“I call on all of us to move with speed on the key pillars of our economic integration. Those pillars include working together to increase our productive capacities in key sectors such as agriculture, tourism, and mining (ATM), which we have adopted in Malawi.”

The summit is being held under the theme “Economic Integration for a thriving COMESA, anchored on green investment, value addition and tourism.”

The main thrust of the discussions was on the need for COMESA to consolidate intra-Africa trade which remains at only 17%, a huge contrast to other continents most of who cross-trade with one another between 50% and 70%.

COMESA – comprising of 21 member states – has for many years been the largest free trade area before the advent of what is now the largest FTA in the world, Africa Continental Free Trade Area. It has a population of 580 million citizens with a combined gross domestic product of around US$768 billion.

By Linda Kwanjana

Malawi leader President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has arrived in Zambia where he will be attending the 22nd Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) Heads of State and Government Summit today.

The day-long conference is being held under the theme “Economic Integration for a Thriving COMESA Anchored on Green investment, Value Addition and Tourism”

Malawi has joined 20 other member countries at the 22nd Summit of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit in Lusaka from Tuesday 6th to Thursday 8th June.

The summit – which has attracted close to 3000 delegates from all member states – is categorized in three conventions namely; 18th meeting of COMESA Ministers of Foreign Affairs held on Tuesday, the COMESA Business Forum today (Wednesday) and, the Heads of State and Government meeting slated for tommorow Thursday.

Information from Ministry of Foreign Affairs indicates that His Excellency the State President, Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, will attend the Thursday meeting as a way of consolidating Malawi’s position and opportunities within the trade bloc.

Malawi President is leading delegation of business captains and senior Government officials and this delegation is destined to strike bankable trade deals.

COMESA is a free trade area established in 1993, replacing the then Preferential Trade Area that existed from 1981. The main intention at formation was to have a large economic and trading bloc that would eliminate some of the trade barriers put in place by individual states.

Among some notable benefits for Malawi in COMESA is the access to wider markets and infrastructure that supports that trade admittance.

For instance, COMESA formed part of a consortium that funded the construction and operationalization of the Mchinji – Mwami One Stop Border Post. This project promotes Malawi’s export agenda by removing logistical challenges for local businesses doing crossborder trade with Zambia and the entire region.