By Linda Kwanjana
Malawi President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera has told potential investors in the United States of America (USA) that his country is best investment destination under his watch as the country is offering competitive investors’ tax and non-tax incentives packages; is easy to access with daily flights; has a resilient economic growth, and is stable and peaceful.
President Chakwera said this on Sunday evening at Martinique Hotel in New York during a second edition of the Malawi-Partners Conference, held on the margins of the 79th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
Addressing a wide range of potential investors, President Chakwera said Malawi boasts of 5.3 million hectares of arable land, representing 45 percent of its total land area; adding that the country has abundant water resources, including Lake Malawi, Africa’s third-largest freshwater lake, coupled with several major river systems.
President Chakwera also told the would-be investors that Malawi has access to a market of over 100 million people in the SADC and COMESA region, adding that the country also has visionary, stable, democratic political leadership which are all key to creating an enabling environment for public and private funding and investments in an open economy.
The President said Malawi has also recently developed a One-Stop Service Centre for investment and trade Promotion through Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC), adding that Malawi has a large, highly educated, skilled, hardworking, trainable workforce.
He continued that the country is also a gold mine of agricultural experience, flooded with untapped specific projects and economic opportunities waiting to be explored.
In the midst of catastrophic climate and health-related shocks, Chakwera said his government continues to lay a solid foundation for Malawi’s prosperity.
“Malawi is not only a land of opportunities, but also a nation ready to meet the global demand for high quality products. We have a web of rivers and lakes, and arable land that is fit-for-purpose and ready to be spurred into high-value agricultural production zones,” he added.
Speaking separately, Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi who attended the conference echoed his counterpart’s sentiment by assuring potential investors that Malawi is endowed with so many natural resources which he said are conducive for investment.
He said just like in Malawi, agriculture also plays a critical role in Mozambique and Africa as a whole in terms of providing primary source of livelihood, income to the majority of the population.
The first edition of the Malawi-Partners Conference was also held at the same venue and some of the fruits of the conference include the ongoing construction of the Magwero Industrial Park near Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) whose resources were committed by the Afreximbank at that time.
Other commitments from last year’s conference that have materialized include the World Bank-financed Regional Climate Resilience Program, IFAD-funded Sustainable Agriculture Productivity Program, and the Building Education Foundation Project that the Global Partnership for Education is financing.
The 2024 edition of Malawi-Partners conference was held under the theme “Securing Our Future: Enhancing Investment in Agriculture for Sustainable Food Security.”
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