Chilima holds talks with Indian VP, visits Malawi in October

Malawi Vice President Dr. Saulos Chilima arrived in New Dehli on Saturday for the India – Africa business conclave where he will be Guest of Honour and immediately kick started his official duties with a meeting with his counterpart Venkaiah Naidu.

During the meeting, Chilima – who is leading a government and private sector delegation to the largest India- Africa business conference – reminded the Indian VP on Malawi’s request to access a line of credit amounting to USD400 million meant for various projects, among other important issues that the two discussed.

“Implementation of these projects will help Malawi deliver the newly launched Malawi Growth and Development Strategy and are also in line with Sustainable Development Goals,’’ said Chilima.

In terms of grants, Chilima expressed appreciation to the Government of India for offering US$1 million for the establishment of a Business Incubator in Malawi which he said would go a long way in empowering women and youth with entrepreneurship skills to start small scale businesses.

Earlier, the VP conveyed warm greetings and best wishes from President Peter Mutharika, government and the people of Malawi to the government and people of India.

In his remarks, Naidu Vice President of India committed to continue cooperating with the Government of Malawi for mutual benefit. He also committed to cooperate with the Government of Malawi in the areas of skills development, entrepreneurship, modernisation of agriculture, IT and community technical colleges.

In order to further strengthen and deepen bilateral relations with Malawi, the Indian Vice President announced that he will pay a working visit to Malawi in October, 2018.

Naidu also thanked the Government of Malawi for signing and ratifying the Agreement on the International Solar Alliance (ISA). He said India was ready to support Malawi with a line of credit for solar energy projects. The Government of India has set aside USD2billion for solar energy projects.

The Confederation for Indian Industry (CII) EXIM Bank Conclave on India/Africa Project Partnership starts Sunday 25th March to 27th March. The CII EXIM Bank conclave is India’s largest Africa focused business event promoting entrepreneurship and enhancing Africa – India investment opportunities.

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