By Sheminah Nkhoma
Four non-residential envoys on Tuesday presented their letters of credence to President, Dr Lazarus Chakwera at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe.
In an interview, after presenting her letter, new High Commissioner of Republic of Gambia to Malawi, Fatoumata Jahumpa Ceesay said her country was geared to build partnership with Malawi and strengthen bilateral relations.
“We are interested in furthering Gambia’s support to Malawi in areas of agriculture, mining, telecommunication and infrastructure. We would like to work with Malawi to bring more investment.
“In mining, Malawi has deposit of various minerals such as uranium, coal, gemstones and limestone as a result, Gambian private investors could explore the opportunity with conducive legal and regulatory framework as well as stable political environment,” she said.
Ceesay said agriculture in Malawi has a large potential for irrigation, crop diversification and favourable climate for various such as maize, macadamia nuts, cotton and tea.
“Gambian private investors can engage in mega farming projects in the country which has a strong agricultural research. As Gambians will make sure that infrastructure are favourable to the country, Malawi has a housing deficit of about 1.3 million units and a low rate of mortgage financing as such we can build high quality houses for civil servants in Malawi,” she added.
On her part the new Kingdom of Spain Ambassador, Natividad Isabel Pena Bonilla said she was looking forward to excellent relations between Malawi and Kingdom of Spain with the aim to improve welfare of citizens in the two countries.
“Trade, youth and education are the priority sectors for developing cooperation. We will be enhancing trade by boosting the import and export competitiveness by providing trainings and education sector is not left out as we will engage the Ministry of Education that children should be learning languages of both countries,” Spanish Ambassador pointed out.
Presidential Spokesperson, Anthony Kasunda highlighted the importance of bilateral relations saying that the President was committed in achieving the ATM strategy whereby he was focusing on agriculture, tourism and mining so coming in of these kind of relations will help to boost up the economy of the country.
Other Ambassadors who presented their letters of credence were from Republic of Burundi and United Mexican States.