Chinese investors inject K3 billion in projects
Chinese investors eager to attend the forthcoming investment forum has declared their interest to invest K3 billion (US$6.7 million) in 20 projects in the country.
Malawi is later this month scheduled to host its first ever investment forum whose preparations government say are at an advanced stage.
The Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (Mitc) confirmed on Monday that the pre-contract agreements with the interested investors were secured by the Malawi Embassy in China.
“Actually, we got word from our embassy in Beijing [China] that a group of Chinese investors there would like to invest in the country in various projects. The initial compendium states that they have already proposed over 20 projects worth over K3 billion, which they have already identified,” said Joshua Nthakomwa, Mitc director of investment promotion and facilitation.
He could, however, not give further details, saying the deals though already confirmed remain in the early stages.
“We should be looking at the nitty-gritties of the deals once they are in as they already confirmed their coming for the [investment] forum. We will make known of the deals at the opportune time but as a country, we obviously have to have a look at them first before other steps like feasibility studies are conducted,” said Nthakomwa.
Earlier, Chinese Ambassador Zhang Qingyang said Malawi possesses numerous investment opportunities.
The expression of interest by the Chinese investors comes after another Chinese firm, Beijing Xinwei Telecom Technologies Incorporated, announced it will invest up to $200 million (K87 billion) in telecommunication.
Mitc earlier invited companies, individuals and businesses that have bankable projects of not less than $500 000 (K225 million) in the sectors of mining, agriculture and agro–processing, energy, infrastructure, tourism and financial services to submit their proposals to them.
Mitc has engaged in efforts to secure investments and increase foreign direct investment (FDI), which was at $118 million (K53 billion) at the end of 2014.
Slated for June 29 and 30 at the Bingu International Convention Centre (Bicc) in Lilongwe, the investment forum is expected to be graced by several renowned global trade brands and multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and Southern African Development Community (Sadc).
Last week, a high-level business mission from the United States of America was in the country for a two-day visit aimed at exploring business opportunities in the energy sector.
The team comprised representatives of 10 large corporations from the US, who were joined by officials from the US government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
Some of the companies included Convalt Energy from New York, Hecate Energy from Nashville, Tennessee, GE from Fairfield, Connecticut, MacLean Power Systems from Mundelein, Illinois, New City Capital from Charlottesville, Virginia, Novi from Michigan, Power Engineers from Hailey, Idaho, Symbion Power from Washington DC and Synnove Energy from Dover, Delaware.
