* The gesture shown by the gathering shows respect and love to the country—Foreign Affairs Ministry PS Polepole
* Several countries including South Africa extended their condolences to the Malawi government and its people during their speeches
By Tikondane Vega, MANA in Nassau, Bahamas
Global leaders who are meeting in Nassau, Bahamas for African Export-Import Bank (AfreximBank) annual meetings and Afri-Caribbean Trade & Investment Forum 2024, on Wednesday morning observed a minute’s silence at the start of their meeting to pay their respects to the late Malawi’s Vice-President Saulos Chilima who died in a plane crash on Monday.
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Director of the ceremony, Mark Eddo asked members to stand up and remain silent in remembrance of the loss of life in a crash of the Vice-President to show solidarity with President Lazarus Chakwera, who was scheduled to attend the meeting but failed due to the tragedy.
“Before we start the meeting, I would like to inform the house that Malawi President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera failed to be with us here because as he was about to depart, he received bad news about the passing of his Vice. I, therefore, request all of us to stand up and observe one minute of silent,” Eddo said.
In addition to the meeting gesture, several countries including South Africa, also extended their condolences to the Malawi government and its people during their speeches.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Dr Mwaiwawo Polepole said the gesture shown by the gathering means a lot to Malawi, saying it shows respect and love to the country.
Dr Mwaiwawo Polepole
“In particular, it’s a huge respect to the departed Vice-President and our President Dr Lazarus Chakwera. It means the world is with us during this painful period when our president was supposed to be here also for the meeting,” he said.
President Chakwera was supposed to arrive in Bahamas on Tuesday to be among several African leaders who have already arrived in the capital Nassau for the 31st AGM and at the opening ceremony, AfreximBank highlighted the need for Africa to boost intra-African trade and integration with Caribbean countries despite adverse economic challenges being faced.
Denys Denya, AfreximBank’s senior executive vice-president, said Africans must work collaboratively towards finding integrated solutions to the new challenges confronting the continent by among others promoting trade and investments with Caribbean countries.
Denya said much as AfreximBank continues to play a significant role by helping countries, aid and grants are not reliable to sustain developments in different countries emphasizing that this has the potential to undermine countries aspirations.
“I must say that the African economy is at the mercy of creditors as such there is need to unify forces for a better future for all Africans. The best is to enhance interconnectivity trade with other countries in different continents.
“We need more trade to achieve economic transformation. Therefore, this meeting should bring solutions to address the challenges confronting Africa. With the continent accounting for a significant proportion of the worlds arable land, it is possible to achieve more,” he said.
Principal Secretary Polepole, who is leading the country’s delegation on behalf of Chakwera, said Malawis participation at the conference underscores the importance of the meeting and its commitment to enhancing trade and investment links between the country, Africa and beyond.
Polepole said Malawi will take advantage of the meeting to enhance the agricultural, trade and mining (ATM) strategy that President Lazarus Chakwera is championing every day.
“This is a great opportunity for Malawi to be part of this gathering and we are assured that by the end of the four-day meeting, the country will benefit a lot from sharing experiences and exploring new opportunities to enhance economy,” he said.
AfreximBank meeting is being held at Baha Mar Convention, Arts & Entertainment Center in Nassau, from Wednedday June 12-15 and has brought together on platform thousands of people, including African and Caribbean leaders and senior government officials, policymakers, corporate leaders, bankers, academia and other leaders.
The bank is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade and is open to all interested in promoting African trade and supporting the socio-economic development of African economies.
For 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africas trade, accelerating industrialization and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa.
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Afreximbank 2024 AGM of shareholders & advisory group has been hosted for the first time in the Caribbean and this year, the AfriCaribbean Trade and Investment Forum (ACTIF2024) is incorporated fully within the Afreximbank Annual Meetings (AAM2024).
Polepole is leading the delegation of deputy chief of iission in the USA, Martin Banda and chief economic advisor to the president, Chancellor Kaferapanjira — whose theme ‘Owning Our Destiny: Economic Prosperity on the Platform of Global Africa’ — will include the launch of the Afreximbank 2024 Trade Report, and plenary sessions addressing macroeconomic crises, economic transformation, and industrial transformation.
Afreximbank, recently initiated construction of the Magwero Industrial Park in Lilongwe, an integrated industrial park set to accelerate the countrys industrialization.
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