Chakwera cannot afford to ignore Putin’s invitation

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week invited Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera to this year’s Russia-Africa Humanitarian Forum slated to take place in July. Malawi through Minister of Agriculture Sam Kawale told the nation Malawi has accepted the invitation.

Malawi’s invitation to Moscow, coming at the back of a donation of 20 000 metric tons (mt) of fertiliser by a Russian company—Uralchem- Uralkali Group—has sent tongues wagging in some corners in Malawi. Some people think the invitation by Putin who is the undisputed aggressor in the Russia-Ukraine war is tricky and Malawi should decline it. They are wrong. They are missing the point. Chakwera should attend the summit in much the same way many other African leaders will do. It is Malawi and those like it which stand to benefit more from the summit than Russia.

In deciding the merit or demerit of whether or not to attend the summit, Malawi should put into the fray its individual economic situation. Malawi does not have the luxury of snubbing Russia simply because South Africa or another country has done so. How Malawi may be affected if it stays away from the summit is not the same way another country will because countries have different social and economic bilateral interests.

Understandably there is the fear that Malawi may be stepping on the toes of its other development partners if it endears itself so much to Russia. Such a notion has zero merit because the trade and other sanctions that some western countries have imposed on Russia are targeted. Malawi has been able to receive the fertiliser from the Russian company because the commodity is not subject to these sanctions.

The 20 000 mt fertiliser is part of a larger consignment of 260 000 mt of fertilizer that is being shipped to various countries in Africa under the auspices of what is known as the Black Sea Grain initiative, which was signed by the United Nations, Türkiye, Ukraine and Russia in July 2022. This was six months after the Russia-Ukraine war started.

Another smaller pact under the same deal was signed to enable Russia to export Russian foodstuffs to global markets to help lower food prices amid Russia’s war on its neighbour and related supply-chain disruptions.

The Black Sea agreement is renewable every four months, and the next expiration is in March. The three-year side deal was explicitly written to enable Russian fertilisers, including ammonia, get to markets by legally working through the sanctions slapped on Russia by the United States, Europeans and others. Another aim was to help the world achieve the “zero hunger” ambition in the Sustainable Development Goals, according to the UN. And according to the World Food Prgramme which facilitated the shipment of the commodity to Malawi, “it is vital that fertiliser, which is not subject to sanctions, must reach international markets to make sure there will be sufficient food production globally next year.”

Foremost to consider is also the fact that Malawi has diplomatic relations with Russia at ambassadorial level. And this is the context in which Chakwera has been invited to Moscow. One can only wish that these relations will deepen over time with or without the Russia- Ukraine war.

The summit is a continuation of many others held before. Former president Peter Mutharika attended one such meeting in Moscow in October 2019. Mutharika led the Malawi delegation at the summit with a focus on investments in energy, mining and opening up new markets for Malawi in Russia for products such as tobacco and legumes. At that summit Putin called for trade with African countries to double over the next five years and said Moscow had written off African debts to the tune of $20billion.

I hope this short write-up has helped to demystify the context in which the 20 000 mt fertiliser was donated and the Russian invitation to Chakwera to attend the Russia-Africa summit in July. A lot is at stake and Malawi can only ignore it at its peril. The claim that the Uralchem donation has potentially been used to win over some African nations has no merit