When I arrived in Malawi, I was delighted to learn that the old Irish proverb ní neart go cur le chéile has a sister in Chichewa: Mu umodzi muli mphamvu (unity is strength).
With greater uncertainty in the world, there are many ambitions that can only be accomplished and many urgent challenges that can only be addressed with meaningful collaboration.
It is a phrase that I return to frequently when I consider how much the Malawi-Ireland partnership has achieved including lifting families out of poverty through social protection, improving food security through agriculture programmes and supporting UN resolutions on matters that are important to both our nations.
It is also a phrase that has powerful meaning for us as a member of the European Union.
On July 1 this year, Ireland began our six-month Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Each of the EU’s 27 member States takes on this responsibility in turn.
It is an honour and a privilege for Ireland to lead work on behalf of the 450 million people who call the EU home. Our conviction that we can achieve more with others than we can alone is at the heart of Ireland’s policy.
We have an ambitious agenda for our time in this role. We hope to enhance the competitiveness of the EU economy, safeguard the union’s values at home and abroad and ensure the security of its citizens.
Our Presidency will be negotiating the next seven-year budget for the union’s work.
This work will be impactful for Malawi, too. The EU’s partnership with Malawi is closely aligned with Malawi 2063 vision, with investments in the key pillars of the EU Global Gateway strategy, notably climate and energy, transport, digital, agriculture, education, skills and research, with strong governance and resilience components.
As Team Europe—the EU institutions and Member States working together—we are developing and implementing a portfolio in Malawi of approximately €1.3 billion, consisting of large-scale investments in infrastructure and connectivity, underpinned by interventions in governance and social protection worth nearly €200 million.
There is still a great deal of work to do. Regrettably, Malawi remains the poorest peaceful country in the world. This should serve as a call to action.
Malawi has great potential, and building on its peacefulness, resilience and democratic credentials. With true partnerships and strong leadership, this country can turn its economy around.
Ireland has invited members of the EU’s Working Party on Development Cooperation, based in Brussels, to visit Malawi this week.
Our visitors, representing 15 of the 27 EU member States, will meet with ministers and entrepreneurs, farmers and government officials, human rights defenders and schoolchildren.
They will have the opportunity to learn about Malawi’s ambitions for its future and how the EU can support this vision.
The visit will include hearing how mothers in Ntcheu are improving nutrition for their children, how innovative bio-digesters are transforming household energy in Dowa and how prisoners in Lilongwe are improving their mental health.
They will also hear how an innovation lab at the Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources is fostering the next generation of entrepreneurs and how Malawi’s leading coffee producers are developing their markets.
These are among other engagements showcasing both the challenges and opportunities the country faces.
This visit will put the EU’s focus firmly on Malawi. I am particularly pleased that, out of all of the countries where Ireland has a development programme, Malawi has been chosen for this important visit.
It not only demonstrates the importance of this relationship to Ireland, but also comes as we are celebrating 50 years of the EU-Malawi Partnership.
Ireland’s EU presidency ends in 2026, but it will not be the end of our faith that we can find strength in unity.
We will remain steadfastly committed to our values, principles of cooperation, belief in multilateralism.
The Malawi-Ireland relationship will continue to strengthen as next year, in 2027, we celebrate 20 years of partnership.
