Chakwera’s 7-day stay at UNGA: What’s in store for Malawians?
President Lazarus Chakwera has left, this morning, for New York, USA, where for, seven days, he join will join over 150 heads of states and government for the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).
According to the statement released by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during the visit, Chakwera will attend the Summit of the Future and the High-Level Meeting on the Miombo Forest Declaration.
“The president will also attend among others, the High-Level Meeting on Antimicrobial Resistance and deliver a National Statement during the United Nations General Assembly General Debate to mobilize global support for Malawi’s developmental priorities,” reads part of the statement.
The Ministry also says Chakwera will hold bilateral discussions with other Heads of State and Government and other Business Executives to continue advancing Malawi’s diplomatic relations and economic partnerships towards implementation of the Agriculture, Tourism and Mining (ATM) Strategy and the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
“In this context, the President will also host the Malawi Partners Conference 2024 that will bring together investors to discuss the future and potential of food production in Malawi,” as it reads.
The plane carrying President Chakwera has departed Kamuzu International Airport this morning, 18th September 2024, at 07:30 Hours.
Chakwera’s trip to UNGA this year builds on the milestones that Malawi benefited from last year’s trip. Among others, Malawi clinched an enormous USD$100 million educational loan package for 1000 young graduates who seek to pursue Masters programmes in Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Artificial Intelligence. This is a programme under the Africa-US Presidential Forum.
Further, the 2023 UNGA trip also yielded a huge boost to the country national social cash transfer initiative. US-based non-profit organisation, GiveDirectly, gave Malawi US$42 million (approximately K46 billion) for social protection programmes that are aimed at cushioning its citizens from economic hardships. The organisation is also doubling efforts to finalise the design of a US$300 million wealth creation project for Malawi that will target close to 1 million people.
During last year’s attendance, the Malawi delegation, led by President Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, had clarity of purpose in lobbying for global support towards recovery and reconstruction efforts following socioeconomic effects. These effects are as a result of natural disasters such as Cyclone Freddy, Covid19 and the war in Eastern Europe.
Having a clear agenda at hand helped the President to hold strategic bilateral and multilateral meetings with key global leaders and institutions. This exercise too bore fruits for Malawi based on the desirable outcomes in form of near-done pledges from across the board.
For instance, renowned American economist and public policy analyst, Jeffrey Sachs, will coordinate what he calls heavy investment into Malawi’s education sector while African Development Bank President Akinwumi Adesina, and Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf, also made firm assurances to assist Malawi regain economic growth and social progress.
Such levels of international goodwill and commitment are a result of the many meetings and engagements the Malawi delegation carried out during the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
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