MCCCI calls for government partnership
The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI) has called on government to consider a Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal with the chamber in putting up a world class exhibition centre.
MCCCI president Newton Kambala said this last Friday at the official opening of the 26th Malawi International Trade Fair (Mitf) at the Chichiri Trade Fair grounds in Blantyre.
He said the chamber, as a non-profit making organisation, cannot on its own raise enough funds to develop the project; hence, government intervention.
“The benefits of the facility to the government in attracting serious international buyers are immense. If exports increase, certainly foreign exchange should no longer be a problem,” said Kambala, adding that the chamber has basic drawings for the project and is ready to engage government officials.
He also appealed to the government to deliberately set up companies that will be privatised to create more room for manufacturing which for sometime has been given less priority by the government.
Kambala said this strategy is what most countries that are making progress in industrialisation have adopted.
“The IMF-style policies that stress macroeconomic stability above all else have yielded very little in terms of economic transformation. It is the actual direct positive government interference that is helping countries change their economic landscape into middle and high income brackets,” he said.
He stressed that the Malawi Government should support the private sector through various industrial policy interventions to industrialise.
The Mitf has this year seen number of international participants dropping from seven last year to four this year and the same number of pavilions occupants at 250.
