President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera and his administration are on the right track towards narrowing a trade gap between India and Malawi as the latter has increased its export to India by 10 times over the last three years.
The Indian High Commissioner to Malawi, His Excellency S. Gopalakrishnan, disclosed this during the commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Republic of India.
The commemoration took place in Lilongwe recently where high level dignitary gathered to celebrate with the people of India.
Gopalakrishnan said the move by the Chakwera administration to reduce to trade imbalance between India and Malawi should give citizens hope for the accelerated economic growth for their country.
“My government is impressed with the strides the two nations have made towards strengthening mutual trade and investment. I am also happy to mention that India is also one of the largest investors in Malawi. The Government of India is also actively supporting a number of developmental projects in Malawi and closely partnering with the Government of Malawi in achieving its socio-economic developmental goals,” said Gopalakrishnan.
He said besides bilateral development cooperation, India and Malawi are also working with other like-minded partner countries in Malawi under the trilateral cooperation in the field of food security and women empowerment.
At this point, the envoy stressed that India’s development partnership with Malawi is always based on Malawi’s priorities, focusing much on human-centric and principles of mutual respect.
“We strongly believe that the biggest strength of the friendly relationship between India and Malawi is the Indian origin and Indians who live in Malawi. They are not only playing a link between our two countries and cultures, but have also been significantly contributing to Malawi’s economic growth,” narrated Gopalakrishnan.
Gopalakrishnan thanked Prsident Chakwera and his government for creating a conducive environment for Indian investors and recognizing their contribution to the economy.
Speaking on behalf of President Chakwera, the Minister of Mining, Monica Chang’anamuno, said the Government of Malawi appreciates the strong bilateral relations, which are evident in many areas of cooperation which include trade, health, capacity building and agriculture.
Chang’anamuno cited 2023 when Malawi hosted the 2nd Session of the Malawi-India Foreign Office Consultations meeting, which provided the two countries with an opportunity to agree on new areas of cooperation as well as enhance the already existing cooperation.
“In the area of trade cooperation, the Government of Malawi continues to fully utilize the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Cooperation in the Field of Trade of Tur or Pigeon Peas which was signed in June, 2021. The agreement allows export of 50,000 metric tonnes of pigeon peas annually from Malawi to India until 2026.
I am delighted to share that, following the 2nd Session of the Malawi-India Foreign Office Consultations, the Government of India has graciously granted a new waiver of the export quota for pigeon peas from Malawi to India until March 31, 2025, operating within the same Agreement framework. This means that Malawi can export unlimited amount of pigeon peas to India in the 2024/2025 marketing session,” said the minister.
She urged the private sector and all relevant stakeholders to utilize the opportunity, not only to increase the scope of trade between the two countries, but also to reduce the current trade imbalance between the two countries.
Chang’anamuno said this will bring to Malawi significant economic benefits such as fostering job creation and generating foreign currency which will be beneficial to Malawian citizens.
