Trip cancellation won’t affect Chakwera’s core business in Saudi Arabia – Kunkuyu

Government Chief Spokesperson and Minister of Information and Digitalization, Moses Kunkuyu, has disclosed that the postponement of President Dr. Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera’s trip to the Arab-Africa Summit will not affect his core business in Saudi Arabia.

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Chakwera was scheduled to fly to Saudi Arabia on Wednesday where he was due to attend the First Saudi-Africa Summit and 5^th Arab-Africa Summit in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, before travelling to Egypt for the AFREXIMBANK Intra African Trade Fair.

But Saudi Arabia has suddenly postponed the summit following the escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas in Palestine’s Gaza Strip.

According to the statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, the postponement was made in coordination with the Secretariats of the Arab League and the African Union Commission to ensure that political events in the region do not affect the Arab-African partnership and a new date will be scheduled later.

The statement adds that Riyadh will instead host the Arab League Emergency Summit on the same day and the bloc’s foreign ministers will meet to discuss the Israel-Hamas war that has killed over 11 000 people and wounded many more since October 7 and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

Following this development, Kunkuyu announced that President Chakwera will witness the signing of a $20 million (K22 billion) loan agreement between Malawi and the Saudi Fund for Development for the construction of the Mangochi-Makanjira Road.

“So, the President’s main business in Saudi Arabia is still there. In fact, the President was just taking advantage of the trip there to network with others at the Arab-Africa Summit.