* Malawi has enormous potential to generate more energy from solar, wind and geothermal sources
* GEIDCO’s expertise could provide Malawi with the alternative sustainable power sources that she need
* Energy is critical for Malawi to realise its MW2063 national vision, which is being driven through the ATM strategy
Wrap up by Chikondi Chimala, MANA in Beijing, China
President Lazarus Chakwera has described the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), as a highly successful summit, saying it has exceeded his wildest dreams as it produced tangible results that would help transform Malawi in areas that need support — including infrastructure development, trade and agriculture among others.
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“It was pleasing and exciting to note that China has opened up its huge market with 1.4 billion people as Malawi will take advantage of this with our agriculture, tourism and mining (ATM) key priority areas to get a slice of the cake to achieve our much-needed development goals.
“We will take up the initiative focusing on agriculture mechanisation, modernisation, industrialisation, and value addition to create a base for driving up our export potential.”
The President, who has left China and is expected to arrive in Malawi tomorrow, further said he was going back home a happy person and would not rest on his laurels but make sure that Malawi claims a fair share of the cake as promised by Chinese President Xi Jinping.
The Heads of States at the China-Africa summit
Delivering his keynote address during the opening session of the Summit, Xi Jinping promised that China would open up its huge market to African exports and also provide support to Africa in 10 technical areas to help improve trade and cooperation between China and Africa as well as offering over US$51 billion to support implementation of the specified areas.
Xi Jinping said “to implement the 10 partnership actions, the Chinese government will provide RMB360 billion yuan of financial support through the next three years. This breaks down into RMB210 billion yuan of credit line, RMB80 billion yuan of assistance in various forms, and at least RMB70 billion yuan of investment in Africa by Chinese companies.
In addition, China will encourage and support Africa in issuing panda bonds in China to enhance our results-oriented cooperation in all areas.
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President Chakwera also met the management of the Global Energy Interconnection Development & Cooperation Organisation (GEIDCO) at their headquarters in Beijing who he requested to consider investing in Malawi’s energy sector.
“Malawi has enormous potential to generate more energy from solar, wind and geothermal sources,” Chakwera said, adding that GEIDCO’s expertise could provide Malawi with the alternative sustainable power sources that she need”.
He emphasised that energy is critical for Malawi to realise its MW2063 national vision, which is being driven through the ATM strategy, saying a minimum electricity demand of 2,200 megawatts for mining, manufacturing, and domestic consumption is necessary.
GEIDCO chairperson, Xin Baoan, who is president of the China Electricity Council, said his organisation is ready to collaborate with the Malawi government to create a better future, adding that they are already exploring opportunities to develop the country’s energy interconnections to foster integrated growth across the power-mining-metallurgy-manufacturing-marketing sectors.
When he addressed a high-level meeting on the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum yesterday that was hosted by Chinese President Xi Jinping after the official opening of the FOCAC, Chakwera hailed the BRI impact which he described as a tool for transforming economies in Malawi and other African countries.
The President described the BRI as an ambitious and noble initiative aimed at lifting people and nations in the Global South from poverty to prosperity — while also emphasising that it represents a dream come true for developing countries.
He called for dedicated efforts to realise this vision through the allocation of funds to transport infrastructure development projects while asking China to also work with with regional blocs including the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) and the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).
He emphasised that these two groupings have numerous regional transport infrastructure projects and that his administration would like to focus on corridors that pass through Malawi — the Nacala and TAZARA corridors.
“Malawi aims to revitalise the TAZARA line and has proposed extending a railway line from the TAZARA line through Malawi to connect to the Nacala Corridor,” he said. “This would enhance intra-African connectivity, opening up vast areas of Africa to global commerce and industry, including other land-locked countries in the SADC region.
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“The Malawian Government is currently rehabilitating the Beira railway line and has already started the rehabilitation of 72kms of rail from the Mozambique border using local resources.
The plan is to rehabilitate the entire 201km rail from Marka to Limbe, making it operational again up to Beira port in Mozambique.”
He also disclosed that Malawi plans to upgrade the 272km Rumphi-Nyika-Chitipa Road, which would enhance connectivity and open up agriculture, mineral, and tourism-rich districts, benefiting Malawi and its neighbouring countries of Zambia and Tanzania.
The President said by investing in the outlined critical infrastructure projects, Malawi has the opportunity to bring about lasting economic prosperity for itself and establish a powerful legacy of the BRI that will benefit generations to come.
The president called on the need for the BRI to also prioritise mass digital and energy connectivity calling for the deliberate focus on facilitating skills and knowledge transfer along the Silk Road which he said has potential to reach 75% of the global population.
He also took cognizance that China is the world’s leader in infrastructure development having successfully executed numerous major transport infrastructure projects beyond the BRI, significantly impacting the lives of those touched by them and boosting our economies — “as such, Malawi fully endorses China’s quest to be the partner of choice in infrastructure development in the Global South.”
In other meetings ahead of the summit, President Chakwera met and held bilateral talks with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing where he applauded the People’s Republic of China for being Malawi’s true friend and partner as seen from the various levels of support and cooperation between the two countries.
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Chakwera also thanked Xi Jinping “for the continued support in various areas, such as debt restructuring, ongoing construction projects, scholarships, and capacity-building programmes, as well as the various ways [China] has offered including timely humanitarian assistance in the wake of climate-related disasters”.
President Chakwera also proposed for the establishment of a technical team comprising officials from the two countries who will discuss pertinent development issues for the enhancement of cooperation between the two countries.
“I propose that to further deepen our relations, we have to institute a team of technical officials from our two countries, who will discuss various pertinent issues and report directly to us so that we deepen further our cooperation.”
On his part, President Xi JinPing said he is ready to deepen relations between Malawi and the People’s Republic of China emphasising on the need to elevate relations between the two countries to a strategic partnership.
He also commended President Chakwera’s efforts in bringing development to the people of Malawi and expressed hope that the FOCAC Summit will help in deepening these relations.
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The 2024 FOCAC Summit, among others, focused on building relations and cooperation in supporting Africa’s industrialisation, energy and trade as a priority including talent development, accelerating agricultural modernisation, Agenda 2063 of the African Union, modernisation and mutual learning among civilisations, political, peace, and security cooperation as well as poverty reduction.
FOCAC was instituted in 2020 to foster relations between China and the 53 African nations and the African Union and is held every six years while the minister’s conference is held every three years.
During his meeting with President Xi JinPing, the Malawi leader also expressed gratitude to for the commitment that the Chinese government has shown to finalise preparatory work for the construction of the Judicial Complex in Lilongwe, following the signing of a K50 billion financing agreement between the two governments.
Minister of Finance & Economic Planning, Simplex Chithyola-Banda described the agreement as a fitting gift from the Chinese government to the people of Malawi, disclosing that the grant financing, which is worth Chinese RMB 200 million (over US$30 million) will aid the transformation of Malawi.
In an interview with Malawi News Agency (MANA), Chithyola-Banda said Chinese President Xi JinPing informed President Chakwera about the grant financing of the Judicial Complex during their bilateral meeting at the Great Hall of the People held on Tuesday morning.
“I am happy that I have signed this agreement on behalf of the Malawi government that will see our judicially operate from modern buildings that will house quite many offices including courtrooms which is a positive development.”
“The onus to start work on the Judicial Complex that will be constructed in Lilongwe opposite the Parliament Building is now on my Ministry which will work to fastback its operationalisation with the stakeholders in China to make sure disbursements are done so that the work can start soon.”
Chithyola Banda further said aside from changing the face of Lilongwe, the project will contribute to the socio-economic development of the country as it will see several Malawians getting employed on the project and others supplying goods and services.
Malawi Parliament built with funding from China
He added that the commitment of the Chinese government to fund the project is a result of focused leadership that has prioritised building good relations with other countries as already seen by the designation of Malawi as a strategic partner by the Chinese Government
Signing on behalf of the Chinese government was Long Zhou, who is the Chinese Ambassador to Malawi, who said his government would see to it that the project runs its full course and that the relations between the two countries grow from strength to strength.
Meanwhile, at a meeting with the Technical Management Team of Huawei Technologies led by Chinese Vice-President Li Junfeng, Chakwera hailed Huawei Technologies for being a valuable partner in building the digital capacity of Malawi across overlapping sectors via groundbreaking innovations in e-government, e-health and e-learning among others.
He added that Malawi had significantly benefited from the exceptional services that Huawei provides through cutting-edge solutions offered, ranging from smart devices to advanced digital solutions.
“My administration is also keen on collaborating with Huawei in several specific areas of Smart Village Initiative for rural communities including the establishment of technical training centers for ICT to help us upskill our youth in digital skills, AI and cybersecurity, smart agriculture solutions to support our large-scale farm initiatives, and Cybersecurity for Malawi’s digital landscape.”
The president also asserted his administration’s unwavering commitment to the minigrid project as Malawi seeks to expand electricity access across the country, saying he would persist in exploring financing opportunities to scale the project based on the results of feasibility studies that identify numerous eligible areas across the country.
Furthermore, the president expressed pride to have inaugurated Malawi’s first state-of-the-art National Data Centre in Blantyre this year, owing to the successful execution of the fibre backbone project by Huawei which helped to position Malawi on the global digitalization map, on par with highly developed nations.
Huawei Technologies managing director for Malawi, Gomez Gu said his company was geared to support Malawi in digitalisation, providing power through microgrids solutions, especially for rural areas and computing.
On his part, Minister of Information & Digitalisation, Moses Kunkuyu disclosed that government will soon launch the first Smart Villages project in rural areas, which will help increase the number of smart villages in Malawi thereby increasing access to connectivity and various online services in rural areas.—Wrap up edited by Maravi Express
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