National Planning Commission (NPC) has called upon the government to accelerate investments in the strategic sectors of the economy if MW2063 development aspirations are to be realized.

The call came at the start of a weeklong MW2063 Meeting for Pillar and Enabler Coordination groups starts today in Lilongwe. The meeting is being facilitated by NPC.

NPC Commissioner Mercy Masoo said developmental state implies that the government should take an active role in all strategic sectors of the economy, hence the call; adding that acceleration has to take place where forex can be generated or preserved through import substitution.

“Establishing and capitalizing the trailblazer institutions like the National Mining Company and the newly revamped Malawi Developmental Corporation-MDC as well as capitalizing a fully-reformed and commercially-oriented ADMARC to be a massive aggregator of farm produce, an agro-processor and exporter, will be critical,” said Masoo.

She said that, these can be important efforts in de-risking investments in areas where the private sector cannot feel comfortable to go alone, adding that the trail-brazing institutions will establish Special Purpose Vehicle (SPVs) in strong alliance with the private sector in generating profits and sell its shares to Malawians thereby creating a cadre of wealthy middle-income citizens which is the true spirit of Malawi 2063.

Malawi 2063, which is a vision of inclusive with creation and self- reliance, has three pillars of creating wealthy which are agriculture productivity and commercialization, industrialization and urbanization.

In her remarks, Secretary to the President and Cabinet-SPC, Colleen Zamba who was the guest of honor, acknowledged the need for government to take a leading role in economy strategies in order to achieve the agenda.

She says, ‘’While government takes the leading role in the management and operations of the PECGs, developmental partners should continue to align and harmonize their support to pillar and enabler priorities and participate fully in the activities, adding that other stakeholders should form part of the pillar coordination groups and be assigned specific tasks to ensure coordinated policy dialogue, planning resource mobilization, implementation, reporting, monitoring and evaluating’’.

She retaliated that government remains committed in accelerating the national transformation agenda and as per guidelines of the PECGs.

The SPC has on the other hand applauded non-state actors especially the European Union (EU), United States Aid for their technical and financial support and asked them to continue supporting the MW2063 agenda saying their commitment is of importance towards it.

The NPC was established through an act of Parliament in 2017 with two main mandates which are coordinating the development of long and medium-term development plans based on the country’s comparative advantages and resource potential and to oversee the implementation of the plans.