Malawi to negotiate for more visa-free deals

Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo has said government will negotiate with countries that have been exempted from visa as a requirement to enter Malawi to reciprocate on  the same for Malawians visiting them.

The minister said this in Parliament on Tuesday in response to concerns from Mchinji South lawmaker Agnes Nkusa Nkhoma (Malawi Congress Party) that Malawians face challenges to visit some of countries whose nationals Malawi has waived the visa requirements for.

“I know it is going to help us get forex. But Malawians are struggling to get visas to go to the same countries,” she said.

But Tembo said since President Lazarus Chakwera made the pronouncement to waive visa requirements for various countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs task is to engage those countries on how this country will benefit and negotiate for a similar arrangement for Malawians.

She said: “We will engage them on how they can reciprocate our good gesture of allowing their citizens to come to Malawi without visas and how our citizens can take advantage to visit their countries visa free. That is where we are going to start our negotiations. Already, we have got a programme to engage them.”

Early this month, Malawi waived visa requirements for nationals from 79 countries, a move Minister of Tourism Vera Kamtukule said would help boost the tourism sector.