‘Malawi underutilising regional integration’

Malawi is underutilising the social and economic potential accruing from regional integration, leading to the slow growth of the economy, National Initiative for Civic Education (Nice) Trust has observed.

Malawi is among African governments that adopted the “regional integration” concept as a response to difficulties facing national markets in landlocked countries.

The concept is said to be an important instrument for unleashing the economic potential of the region through promotion of trade.

But Nice executive director, OllenMwalubunju, in an interview last week said despite the inspiring targets, Malawi may not reap the much-needed benefits because of lack of clear trade policies and implementation strategies.

Mwalubunju cited failure by government to “connect citizens to regional bodies such as Southern African Development Community [Sadc]”.