Chakwera touts K27bn energy investment
President Lazarus Chakwera says Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet is set to provide a K27 billion investment to Malawi to boost the country’s energy sector.
The President said this in his speech yesterday after holding discussions with the alliance’s chief executive officer Simon Harford on the sidelines of the United Nations 27th Annual Conference of the Parties (CoP27) in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.
The development follows a year of courting investors to implement a grid battery-powered project in Malawi.
Malawi Government and the alliance are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on the project on the sidelines of CoP27.
Meanwhile, the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet is also expected to host a side event with global climate investors and Chakwera is scheduled to make an address.
The President said he also cemented an energy deal signed last year with Elsewedy Electric which seeks to invest in solar power in Malawi.
In his speech delivered at a high level meeting on food security on the margins of CoP27, Chakwera called on nations to address hunger, which he described as chief among the silent weapons of climate change.
The President said hunger threatens to starve to death millions of people, hence, the need for action.
He said: “In my own country, which is at the nexus of climate change and food security, 3.8 million people will need food assistance this year alone, all because climate change affected the timing of the rains and brought rains with so much force that their food crops were washed away.”
Chakwera suggested that for developing countries such as Malawi, there is need for a comprehensive exploration of food systems which integrate agriculture, nutrition and socio-economic indicators.
Speaking later on behalf of the Least Developed Countries during the high-level World Leaders’ Summit on Advancing Adaptation in the LDC’s: Twenty Years of Support, he urged nations to use CoP27 to build the momentum countries need for making exponential progress ahead of the Fifth UN Conference for LDCs in Doha next March.
The President said: “We need to pull in the same direction if we are all going to reach the same shore. Success is a product of our collective efforts, and we can’t afford having any nation working alone or in isolation.”
CoP27, taking place from November 6 to 18, is being held under the theme ‘Delivering for People and the Planet #Together for Implementation’.
It aims to shift the focus from negotiations and planning to action on the ground where it is most needed.
