‘Chakwera strikes right cord on foreign policy’
International relations and political analysts say President Lazarus Chakwera has been strong on foreign policy and that Malawi is benefitting from his diplomatic touch that also took him to several countries in what critics said is costly “globe-trotting”.
The pundits were looking at areas of trade, bilateral and multilateral relations, budgetary and off-budget support as those that have been shaped by Chakwera’s foreign policy bona fides.

An expert in government, public planning and international policy George Chaima said in an interview that the opening of new diplomatic offices in Morocco, Israel and other countries has also helped Malawi to build stronger international bonds that are bearing fruits for its citizens.
For example, he said, apart from Israel getting into a labour export deal with Malawi, countries such as Morocco have been able to donate fertiliser, while others like Ukraine have donated maize at a time nearly six million of the country’s 20 million people are acutely food in-secure.
“We received fertiliser and food aid from some of them. It was through such trips that renewed confidence in foreign governments and international development agencies resumed or increased aid,” said Chaima.
He added that Chakwera’s efforts to improve relations with neighbouring countries, especially Mozambique with which Malawi had frosty relations, particularly during the Bingu wa Mutharika era, has been significant.
“Mozambique and Tanzania are our doors to the world. Being a landlocked country, it is absolutely important that the relationship with these two countries should remain sound,” noted Chaima.
University of Malawi (Unima) governance pundit Gift Sambo noted that Mozambique is a very important country for Malawi’s development.
“Malawi has no choice, but to maintain strong ties with Maputo if it is to make headway in sectors such as energy, transport and infrastructure development.
“Being a landlocked country, it is consequential that the government should sustain good relations with Mozambique, which hosts vital sea ports on which Malawi is heavily dependent,” he said.
Chakwera has also presided over the resumption of direct budget support from major donors after years of aid freeze.
In 2023, the World Bank announced a resumption of direct budget support to the Malawi Government with a $137 million (about K237 billion) package to support local efforts to boost reforms and restore macro-economic stability.
Last October, the European Union (EU) also resumed direct budget support to Malawi after 10 years, signing a 55 million euro finance agreement with Malawi.
During the signing of that deal, EU Ambassador Rune Skinnebach said “today’s agreement is a powerful symbol of renewed collaboration and commitment to our shared goals of stability, progress and inclusive development in Malawi”.
The administration also secured the International Monetary Fund-supported programme—the Extended Credit Facility—which green-lighted aid flows and helped send favourable signals to investors. Last year, government also signed the $350 million Transport and Land Compact with the United States’ Millennium Challenge Corporation even as Lilongwe deepened economic and political cooperation with the People’s Republic of China.
President Chakwera has also boasted that in 2024 only, at least K300 billion was mobilised in off-budget support under his watch.
And last week, the World Bank granted Malawi $250.8 million (about K435.6 billion) under the Accelerating Sustainable and Clean Energy Access Transformation in Malawi (Ascent Malawi) Project.
The project seeks to increase access to sustainable and clean energy. It is expected that with the grant, Malawi will push access to electricity from the current 25.9 percent to 70 percent by 2030.
University of Witwatersrand expert in State-society relations, Michael Jana feels such aid is a positive development, but still, says more needs to be done to leverage the gains.
“There has indeed been some progress in improving relations with donors. What is still missing though is harnessing that external financial and technical injection to develop an economy that is sustainable.
“Malawi is still dependent and cannot generate its own resources,” he said.
Recently, Malawi also improved its ranking on openness to visitors from other African countries, an indication that visitors are now entering the country without restrictions, courtesy of visa policy changes.
Published data from the 2024 Africa Visa Openness Index shows that Malawi has moved to position 22 this year from 25 out of 54 economies in 2019.
This followed the roll-out of a policy in February this year to lift visa restrictions for travellers from 70 countries, including the United Kingdom, China, Russia and Southern African Development Community and Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa countries.