France is re-engaging with Malawi

 France Minister of State for Development, Francophone and International Partnerships Chrysoula Zacharopoulou arrived in Malawi yesterday to undertake official engagements, the first by a senior French Government officer in 20 years. In this interview with The Nation Editor AUBREY MCHULU, Zacharopoulou talks about the re-engagement and other issues. Excerpts:

QWelcome to Malawi Madam Zacharopoulou. It has been a long time since a senior member of the French Government visited this country for almost 20 years!

AYou are right, it has been 20 years since a ministerial visit to Malawi from France took place. So, I am here with one crystal-clear message: France is re-engaging with Malawi!

Of course, this ambition for a bigger and better partnership encompasses trade. It also touches upon important topics on ways to grow your economy like increasing food security for your people and supporting the Malawi Government to develop its mining industry in a sustainable manner.

QTalking about trade, there is an emerging line of thought in Malawi and Africa as a whole that minerals and agricultural commodities should first be processed before they are exported. How does this resonate with your policies?

ALet’s start with agriculture. It is all about the food security of our partners across Africa. It is a top priority for France, especially in the context where Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and climate disruptions have had major impacts on access to food. In 2022, we launched the European FARM initiative that stands for ‘Food and Agriculture Resilience Mission’. It is a powerful tool to support local agriculture production and to increase of resilience of African supply chains.

Critical raw materials are also pivotal to achieve the energy transition.

Our policy is to keep diversifying our supplies and to help our partners, especially in Africa, developing their downstream processing capacities.

QThere was a time when the French language together with French literature, music and film were promulgated through French cultural centres in Lilongwe and Blantyre. Does the re-engagement agenda include the revival of these cultural activities besides the training of French language teachers?

AI look forward to visiting the ‘Maison de France’ in Blantyre who has been tremendously managed by our honorary consul Luc Descamps! I am glad to announce that we are in the process of turning it into an ‘Alliance Française’ which will have its own local governance.

This is part of the way we want to make sure that France is back to Malawi, an ‘Alliance Française’ has more resources to help people to connect with France.

More than 100 000 African students choose France to develop their skill. Let us make sure that this opportunity in Blantyre will encourage the young people from Malawi to also take a chance with France!

QThere is a perception that France has engaged more with Francophone Africa than Anglophone Africa. Should we expect a significant shift in policy now that China and Russia have made gains by engaging with Africa regardless of colonial links?

ASince 2017, Africa is a top priority for President [Emmanuel] Macron. That is Africa as a whole, in its entire diversity. Of course, Francophone Africa matters to France and in October 2024, we will host the 19th Summit of the Francophonie! But let me remind you that Francophonie brings together 88 members from Caribbean countries to the Pacific islands.

Back to your question, from Paris we see Africa as it is! The whole continent offers a lot of opportunities to develop partnerships in wide-ranging policy areas.

We work on joint economic opportunities. France developed 4 200 subsidiaries that enrol more than half a million people all across the continent! We have a vivid cooperation with Nigeria and Kenya for example!

QFrance closed its resident embassy in Lilongwe in the early 2000s. Since then, two of Malawi’s Presidents, Bingu wa Mutharika and Lazarus Chakwera have visited France. What should Malawians expect from your visit in terms of relations?

AI am very glad that this visit gives me the opportunity to have deep and extended exchanges with Malawian authorities, both on our bilateral relations, geopolitical concerns as well as global issues.

Your country brought steady support to an international order based on principles, this grounds the UN system! We fully share the same approach to defend and advance democracy, multilateralism and peaceful cooperation among nations.

QWhat are the key projects that France has been undertaking in Malawi, if any, since the closure of its embassy? Which are the key areas of focus?

AFrance’s support to Malawi is wide-ranging. As partners and friends, we want to help with actionable solutions. So, let me highlight some recent initiatives that I consider very relevant for our cooperation.

To support Malawi in ensuring food security, France engaged 1 million euro for food aid in 2023. I can already tell you that we intend to keep it up in 2024. And we decided to provide new financial guarantees of 10 million euro to Ecobank Malawi. We trust this institution as an important player in financing local agriculture.

In terms of public health, through the World Health Organization, France engaged 350 000 euro in 2023 to buy essential materials to combat cholera. These are tangible examples of what we want to achieve with Malawi! So far, this project-mode partnership proved to be efficient.

We also carried out geological mapping of your territory. The goal was to help Malawi identify the mineral resources you could tap to develop your economy. This work is now completed with success! We look forward to running more meaningful projects like these to bring