Malawi President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera on Saturday saluted his Mozambican counterpart, President Filipe Nyusi, for demonstrating true Pan Africanism by championing treating the prosperity of another nation as being linked to his government.
Speaking in Nampula at the inauguration of the rehabilitated, expanded and upgraded Nacala Port Infrastructure, President Chakwera said it is so rare in Africa to see a nation treat the prosperity of another nation as being inextricably linked to its own.
“When His Excellency President Nyusi hosted me for an historic State Visit last year, he had me take a tour of this facility. At that time, he pledged to see to it that the expansion and rehabilitation of this port was completed with speed, because he had looked favourably on my request for the port to be modernized in order for Malawi to maximize its use going forward,” said the Malawi leader.
Chakwera described the inauguration of the port as a fulfilment of President Nyusi’s promise to strengthen the economic connections between our two countries.
He observed that regional economic integration cannot be achieved without regional cooperation and collaboration.
“And when we speak of regional collaboration, we must understand that it cannot be done without building trust between our nations to enhance our bilateral relations. Without building trust, the work of facilitating the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) will simply be too difficult to achieve, as will its intended objective of improving logistical effectiveness and reducing logistical costs of conducting business between our nations,” he said.
At this point, President Chakwera congratulated President Nyusi and the Government of the Republic of Mozambique for the milestone and the remarkable gesture of partnership and generosity towards Malawi.
“I cannot overemphasize the importance of good connectivity in our region for reliable power supply. The Climate Change induced-cyclones which have been repeatedly bashing our countries and causing damage to critical infrastructure in recent years should teach us hard lessons. Last year, Malawi lost almost a third of her energy production capacity from the national grid due to cyclones Ana and Gombe. This seriously affected power supply for industrial and domestic use and the country’s economy, as a whole. Had it been that our countries were well-connected in terms of power supply, rail, road and air transport systems, the impact of such events in disrupting economic activity would have been kept to a minimum. The development of the Nacala Corridor should therefore focus on these areas.
“When all is said and done, we expect a boost in inclusive growth for various industries in our countries, especially in the energy, agriculture and manufacturing sectors. We also expect more employment and increased consumer demand, thus further strengthening our economies. I, therefore, call upon the private sector to take full advantage of the opportunities availed by the Nacala Development Corridor which has now been resourced by a well-equipped modernised port,” said President Chakwera.
