Mutharika off to London for Commonwealth summit: Malawi leader to visit Scotland

President Peter Muthalika is expected to leave the country on Friday to London  with a lean delegation for the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) summit, Foreign Affairs Minister Emmanuel Fabiano has said.

Fabiano told the news conference in the capital Lilongwe on Wednesday that President Muthalika will travel with a lean  entourage to the UK trip to reduce travel bill.

The clarification comes a Mutharlika’s precious foreign trips have been marred with large entourage which drains the country’s hard earned taxpayers money.

The Commonwealth Heads of Government (Chogm) meeting will be hosted by the UK in April. The Commonwealth compromises 53 states and territories, mostly former parts of the British empire. They include Australia, New Zealand and Canada, in each of which the Queen remains head of state.

The minister said Malawi is benefiting from the Commonwealth membership through technical cooperation programmes, capacity building, research, experts exchange programmes, aid provided by member states under the Commonwealth framework, among other channels.

Officials said the CHOGM will also discuss facilitating trade among Commonwealth countries. The intra-Commonwealth trade is to the tune of US $ 800 billion, and Hitchens said the target is to take it US $ 1 trillion. The summit will be preceded by a host of meetings between officials and ministers, beginning from April 16, and will conclude with the leaders’ summit.

Fabiano also disclosed that the Malawian President will also visit Scotland “where he will fulfil a number of engagements aimed at cementing the bilateral relations existing between Malawi and Scotland.”