Malawi courts investors at Chogm
Commonwealth Heads of State and Government Meeting (Chogm) taking place in Malta have courted potential investors in the sectors of energy and agriculture commodity exchange to increase productivity and growth locally.
Following the Malawi Investment Forum which Malawi hosted in June and now the Commonwealth Business Forum, the Malawi team’s search for investors will head to the United Kingdom (UK) for the Global Investment Summit next week.
In his remarks at the side meeting on Investing in Malawi attended by potential investors from the Commonwealth region, President Peter Mutharika issued an appeal to potential investors on the strength that Malawi has carried regulatory and institutional framework to create an investment friendly environment such as introducing the One-Stop Centre.
“These reforms have also targeted electricity generation. We have liberalised the energy sector by changing the legislation to allow Independent Power Producers to enter into the Malawi market,” he told the meeting.
Mutharika said having been accepted as a member of the Extractive Industry Transparency International (EITI) which governs the mining sector, Malawi was committed to complying with international standards of doing business.
During a question and answer session, Mutharika responded to concerns on poor infrastructure in the water sector and agricultural initiatives that could boost exports apart from tobacco.
The President, who also introduced potential investors to the Malawi Investment Compendium, said there was potential for commodity exchange investment of cash crops such as legumes.
Speaking in an interview, Malawi Energy Regulatory Authority (Mera) chief executive officer Ralph Kamoto said prospects in the energy sector were high considering that Malawi had a huge deficit in terms of energy supply.
On its part, AHL Group, which already has a market for agricultural commodities among Commonwealth members such as India through Auction Holdings Commodity Exchange (AHCX), said it is ready to source capital for investments to realise more forex and sustain the economy.
“Now we want to extend our market in terms of financing,” AHCX manager Davis Manyenje said yesterday.
AHCX markets products such as legumes as well as the renowned Kilombero rice, but it would like to re-enter the groundnuts market in Europe which was closed due to poor controls for the toxin, aflatoxin. n
