Mutharika heads to UK-Africa investment summit

President Peter Mutharika leaves Malawi on Friday for world’s first UK-Africa Investment Summit as the Constitutional Court is preparing to deliver  judgement for the presidential election nullification petition case, concentrating instead on luring investment to the country.

The UK will host the UK-Africa Investment Summit in London on 20 January 2020.

Mutharika want to make sure Malawi is not elbowed out of the front of the queue as Britain’s African investment destination.

A trade deal was agreed in September last year between the UK and six Southern African countries to ensure continuity of trade conditions after Brexit, which will mirror the conditions that the countries currently enjoy with the European Union.

.Office of the President and Cabinet says the Malawi leader  leaves at 4pm on Friday through Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe.

The summit will be hosted by the Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson  and is expected to hold talks with the Malawian leader, who will also attend a reception hosted by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

UK-Africa summit will bring together businesses, governments and international institutions to showcase and promote the breadth and quality of investment opportunities across Africa.

This is a prime opportunity for Malawi  to make its pitch to quality British companies and investors.

Britain’s International Development Secretary Alok Sharma has said Britain will be able to “turbo-charge” relations with Africa after Brexit by striking trade and business deals across the continent.

While Sharma says he hopes the summit will lead to “further investment and trade between Africa and the UK” it is merely the latest in a series of such events.

Last October, Russia played host to 43 African heads of state and government in the same month that France hosted its second annual “Ambition Africa” business summit.

In 2018, China welcomed 51 of the continent’s 54 leaders, one more than the United States four years earlier.

While sub-Saharan Africa is still the world’s poorest region, few see it as “the hopeless continent” any more.

“We want to help countries ultimately to become self-sustaining,” Sharma said. “That has to come through economic development.”

The Summit also intends to strengthen UK’s partnership with African nations to build a secure and prosperous future for all citizens.

Members will mobilise new and substantial investments to create jobs and boost mutual prosperity.