Malawi businesses eye Sadc summit
After failing to make money through hosting of Malawi’s first African Union (AU) summit last year, an opportunity has come again for local entrepreneurs and established businesses to earn more and clinch medium to long term business contracts as the country hosts the 33rd Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) Heads of State Summit due next week.
According to Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu, the heads of state meeting will run from 17 to 18 August 2013 at the Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) in Lilongwe.
“The summit will be preceded by meetings of the Council of Ministers and Senior Officials to be held from 10th to 16th August, 2013. During the summit, Her Excellency Dr Joyce Banda, President of the Republic of Malawi, will assume the position of Chairperson of the 15 member Sadc bloc,” said Kunkuyu.
This development has brought joy to the tourism and hospitality sectors where operators of lodges, car hire companies, telecommunications firms had massively made investments last year for the AU indaba which was cancelled.
The sector says it will ensure that it supports government machinery for the smooth running of the event while determined to make medium to long term contracts with the visiting senior government officials from the region as Malawi tries to market its tourism potential.
On the productive side of the Malawi economy, Minister of Industry and Trade Sosten Gwengwe urged players in the manufacturing sector to be innovative by getting more contacts from the region.
This he said would be a strategic approach of establishing business contacts which would eventually assist companies to easily determine needs and prompt more industrial production to cater for demands within the region.
Malawi is known world over for its friendly people and it has been branded as ‘The Warm Heart of Africa’ since its independence from Britain in 1964.
Some of the main tourist features which Malawi has is one of the world’s largest fresh water bodies in Lake Malawi, Mulanje Mountain and several national parks plus game reserves spread across the country which has various game such as lions, elephants, crocodiles, hippos and rare fish species.
