Mutharika: We can leart from Djibout
Malawi could benefit from Djibouti's experience in port development to develop its own inland port in Nsanje, President Dr. Bingu wa Mutharika has said.
Speaking during a dinner that he hosted in honour of Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh Saturday evening, Mutharika said Malawi could take advantage of Djibouti's vast knowledge and success in the port industry to work on its own port.
Guelleh, the first Djibouti leader to visit Malawi, is in the country on a three day state visit. "Djibouti's economy is based on service industry, including the free trade zone and this is the area we are interested in. "We have a lot to learn from your country to develop our port and to manage and administer it to the benefit of Malawi and other neighboring countries," said Mutharika.
The president said once completed the port would reduce Malawi's transportation costs for trade activities as well as provide room for the establishment of free trade zone which is one of Malawi's ambitions. Mutharika said Djibouti could also benefit from Malawi through agricultural exports.
He disclosed that Malawi was, again, expecting to have a surplus in its crop production which it would sell to other countries including Djibouti.
"You are aware that Malawi's economy is agriculture based, and our farmers grow a variety of food and cash crops. We have, in the recent past, emerged from being a food deficit producing to a surplus producing one.
"This year, we estimate to have over 3.5 million metric tonnes of maize. This output is way above what we need as a nation. We shall have a huge surplus for export to our neighbors including you," Mutharika told the visiting president.
Mutharika further told the Djibouti president that his government plans to promote agriculture in the country through maximum use of irrigation through a project called the Green Belt Initiative, which, he said, would enable farmers to grow food and cash crops, two or three times a year.
In his speech, Guelleh said his visit to Malawi offered him an opportunity to appreciate the importance of the relationship between the two countries adding that there was need to maintain the relations and develop them further to benefit the people of the two countries.
The Djibouti leader stressed the need for Malawi and Djibouti to identify further opportunities offered by the two economies, and that the two countries must explore their respective complementarities in order to create conditions of a profitable relationship to meet expectations of the people of the two countries.
He observed that this was an era of cooperation and regional integration as countries' interests were dependent on each other. Guelleh cited the existence of the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), to which both Malawi and Djibouti belong, as a clear example of how African countries could strengthen their reliance on each other.
"COMESA should not only be a sharing line … Our economies can make great strides with the favour of the dynamics created in COMESA," he said.
Guelleh said the future belonged to those who were bold and daring, especially now when the world was full of obstacles that had come about due to globalistion.--Mana
No comments:
Post a Comment