Malawi to attend Exim Bank Conclave in India
Malawi will attend the 13th edition of CII-Export and Import (Exim) Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership in New Delhi next week.
This year, Malawi will be participating as a country partner and will hold a session focusing on investment and trade opportunities available in the country.
The country’s delegation will be led by Vice- President Saulos Chilima, and so far, 37 participants from the public and private sector have confirmed their attendance.
In preparation for the meeting, the two countries organised a business meeting last week in Lilongwe attended by Minister of Industry, Trade and Tourism Henry Mussa and Indian High Commissioner Suresh Kumar Menon, among others.
During the meeting, Mussa urged the Malawi delegation to speak with one voice when in India.
”Let’s be united and we should go to India and sell Malawi investment and trade opportunities. We should come back with deals that will make a huge difference to the country.”
In an interview, Menon said this is the first time Malawi is being given a status of guest country and is sending a high-powered delegation.
“In India, there are so many opportunities and the Malawi delegation should lure a lot of Indian investors so that they should also come and participate in the forthcoming Malawi Investment Forum 2018 to take place in June,” he said.
The first CII-Exim Bank Conclave on India-Africa Project Partnership was held in 2005.
The initiative was launched by CII in partnership with Exim Bank of India and with the support of the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Over the last 12 editions, the conclave has emerged as the pioneer event in building partnerships and enhancing the economic engagement between the two regions.
The effectiveness of CII Exim Bank Conclave was recently best assessed by Pranab Mukherjee, former president of India and the then minister of External Affairs in his keynote address at fifth CII-Exim Bank Conclave in 2009.
Mukherjee said: “The conclave has become a prestigious event for Indian and African governments and industry to meet and explore new avenues of partnerships.
The annual gathering enables the Indian and African leadership to take stock of the progress of the partnership and address future needs with regard to trade. n
