China gives Malawi relief on office rent

China has offered the Malawi Government a five-year free office space and furniture for its newly-opened consulate in Hunan Province in a gesture Lilongwe says will ease financial burden.

Malawi Ambassador to China Allan Chintedza said in an interview on Thursday that running a mission in the country with a population almost the size of Africa has not been easy due to budgetary limitations.

He said while the mission saw the need to have a consulate in Hunan to maximise Malawi’s opportunities in China, they did not have the funds to pay for rentals there; hence, they reached out to the host country which has responded favourably. 

Said Chintedza: “China is vast and in Hunan there are several investment opportunities. We thought, with our limited budget, we cannot manage to be travelling there now and again to monitor these opportunities; hence, the decision to have a consulate.

“So, we did negotiate with the Chinese Government to say this is our budget and we would not be able to do what we have planned to do. That is how we got offices free of rentals for five years. It is because we negotiated.”

On why they settled for Hunan out of the 34 provinces, he said it is an economic zone that has everything Malawi needs for investment and development. He said the province is rich in agriculture, tourism and mining opportunities which is in line with the ATM strategy prioritising agriculture, tourism and mining.

The Malawi envoy said he was convinced that the Asian nation offers several opportunities, but funding hurdles make it difficult for the mission to fully exploit these gains.

Malawi opened a consulate general in Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province last June. 

President Lazarus Chakwera attended the inauguration ceremony on the sidelines of the China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo held in Changsha.

China, with a population of about 1.4 billion almost the size of Africa, ranks the second largest economy in the world.

Malawi switched diplomatic relations from Taiwan to China in 2008, a decision which apparently triggered some massive infrastructure development, which include the Parliament Building, Umodzi Park, Presidential Villas, the Bingu National Stadium in Lilongwe and the Chitipa-Karonga Road.