Malawi, Tanzania trade gap still wide

Malawi  Investment and Trade Centre (Mitc) says  bilateral trade between Malawi and Tanzania has been increasing over the years, but said more needs to be done to take advantage of the available opportunities.

In an interview on the sidelines of a news conference on Friday to create awareness on the forthcoming Malawi-Tanzania Joint Investment Forum, Mitc director of investment promotion and facilitation Joshua Nthakomwa said the investment forums are crucial for unlocking potential trade deals.

“Following a Joint Permanent Commission for Cooperation between the governments of Malawi and Tanzania held in Lilongwe in February, one of the agreed actions was that Malawi and Tanzania should be patronising each other’s trade and investment fairs and forums, and should hold joint trade and investment forums as a way of promoting trade, investment and information sharing between the two countries,” he said.

Nthakomwa said the deliberate resolution is meant to enhance formal business and social relationships between Malawi and Tanzania and to cultivate trade and investment potential that is there between the two countries.

Trade between Malawi and Tanzania is skewed in favour of the latter, with figures provided by Mitc showing that imports from Tanzania in 2015 were recorded at $40 million (about K29 billion) against exports to  Tanzania valued at $20 million (about K14 billion).

This shows that there is potential to increase trade between the two countries through unexploited bilateral cooperation projects and sound practical trade and investment interventions, according to Mitc.