China pledges more support for Malawi ‘without interference’

China has pledged more support for impoverished Malawi in several areas including education, Health, Agriculture, Transport, Business and Telecommunication.

Malawi, which depends on mostly Western donors to bankroll most of its development programs, has beniffited a lot of infrastructure development with support of the Chinese – of course most on long term loans.

Notable projects that China has helped Malawi include the New Parliament building, Karonga-Chitipa –Road and Malawi University of Science and Technology-MUST.

Leader of a Chinese delegetaion visiting Malawi, Zhang Ping who is also Vice Chairperson of the standing committee of the national People’s Congress of the People’s Republic of China pledged on Sunday China’s continued support to Malawi

“I have to be clear here that the fact that China is helping Malawi, my country cannot interfere with Malawi plans. The reforms which are being undertaken now are of very important to Malawi as it facilitates on how to achieve the country’s goals,” Ping said when his delegation met President Peter Mutharika on Sunday.

“I am expecting that the relationship between two country’s will deepen more that what it is now,” said Ping adding that the visit to Malawi will exchange views on bilateral relationships.

Among others during their three day stay in the country, the Chinese delegation will visit parliament in Lilongwe and the construction site for the National Stadium in Area 49.

In his remarks, President Mutharika applauded the Chinese Government for playing a significant role in transforming Malawi’s socio-economic landscape.

Mutharika said since the establishment of diplomatic relations on 27th December, 2007, China has become one of Malawi’s true and best friends.

“The two countries have been cooperating in various areas and the Government of the People’s Republic of China has assisted with financing, infrastructure development; education; capacity building; defense and security; agriculture; and disaster relief and risk reduction.

“Earlier this year, Malawi experienced unprecedented flooding which resulted in 106 deaths, 172 people missing and 230,000 people displaced. Overall, up to 1.15 million people were affected by the floods. The Government of China as well as the Chinese business community in Malawi came to our rescue, both in cash and kind,” said Mutharika

“In December, 2014, China also approved funding amounting to US$500,000 for the China-Malawi-UNDP Cooperation Disaster Management and Risk Reduction project to help support poor and vulnerable communities located within Malawi’s 15 identified disaster prone districts. In the meantime, officials from Malawi and China are working with speed to make this important facility effective,” said President Mutharika.

China has built close partnerships with African nations in recent years, partly to secure resources such as oil, minerals and timber to help fuel its economic growth.

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