Minister of Transport and Public Works Hon. Jacob Hara has called for improved business between Malawi and Zimbabwe. The Minister was speaking in Lilongwe during the Malawi-Zimbabwe Business Forum.
He said it is high time the trade volumes between the two countries increased considering the proximity of the two countries. He noted that Malawi and Zimbabwe trade volume is relatively low at only around $60 million.
The Minister has therefore called on companies and business executives from Zimbabwe to choose Malawi as their business destination saying the country is already implementing business to improve the business operating environment for increased trade and investment.
‘We are extending an invitation to investors and commodity buyers from Zimbabwe to come and invest and trade in Malawi. Malawi have a lot of business opportunities and we want our friends from Zimbabwe to come and explore these opportunities.’
‘Besides Malawi offers attractive investor incentives for business profitability. For example we have tax holidays of up to 10 years for those wishing to invest in agro-processing and power generation. So we are ready to support their investment here in Malawi,’ said Hara.
In his remarks, Zimbabwean Deputy Minister of Industry and Commerce, Hon. Raj Modi, said Zimbabwe is ready to work with Malawi to ensure that the two countries achieve economic growth.
‘As you are aware Zimbabwe is on the path to economic recovery so too is Malawi. So it is only imperative that we work together to transform the economic landscape of our two countries. We are pleased with the opportunities that Malawi has on offer and it is our hope that in the near future we will also host a delegation of business executives from Malawi in Zimbabwe,’ said Modi.
Meanwhile Chief Executive Officer for MITC, Paul Kwengwere, said MITC is ready to support and facilitate business linkages between Malawi and Zimbabwe.
‘Our role as MITC is to ensure that the leads that will be generated from these discussions are followed through and at the end of the day are actualised into tangible investments or export deals. These platforms as we have said before are a perfect for business networking as well as identification of potential leads for business growth,’ said Kwengwere.
One of the participants, Carlos Dzoole of CECOYD an organization which empowers youths in the rural communities in areas of agribusiness, education, health and environmental preservation, said the meeting was a good platform to network and discuss business.
‘The forum offered us a great platform to network. Right now we are in serious discussions with one of the companies from Zimbabwe-Agriseeds who are interested in buying our soya beans and we are hopeful that this will get through.’
The Malawi-Zimbabwe Business forum was organized by the CEO AFRICA ROUNDTABLE supported by Embassy of Malawi in Zimbabwe. It was hosted by Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC) in partnership with Wealth Africa Magazine.
About 15 companies from Zimbabwe attended the forum.