The government of Qatar has pledged to mobilise and send investors to Malawi soon, who intend to explore various opportunities for possible trade and investment.
The pledge was made Wednesday during bilateral talks between Malawi President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera and the Deputy Prime Minister of Qatar, Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, on the sidelines of the 5th United Nation Conference on LDCs.
Chakwera with Khalid
Minister of Information Moses Kunkuyu, who formed part of the talks, shared the outcome of the discussions to journalists, stressing that it has pleased the Qatari government to favourably respond to the request by President Chakwera who wants massive investment in Malawi, especially in strategic sectors such as agriculture, and mining.
Malawi-which has a youthful population of about 20 million people-boasts of an enabling business environment, attractive incentives and numerous untapped business opportunities.
The Sub-Saharan African country, with a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) worth around $12.6 billion, growing at an average rate of around 3 percent over the past few years, also has a streamlined investment process coupled with a strategic regional and international market access.
“The good news is that they [Qatari government] has promised to send its delegation to Malawi to explore various investment opportunities and this is a direct response to the call by our president. It was a very fruitful meeting and that I can assure you,” said Kunkuyu.
Touching on specific topical issues, Kunkuyu said the two leaders also discussed the possibility of establishing a strong partnership in the agriculture sector, that would center on the possibility of Lilongwe exporting livestock and fresh agricultural produce to Doha.
He also said during the discussions, that President Chakwera also sought the possibilities of another partnership that would entail Malawi sending its people to Universities in Qatar as a way of enhancing the quality of human capital in Malawi.
“The President and the Prime Minister also discussed the need for the two countries to form a strong partnership in the areas of labour migration, aviation as well as mining.”
He clarified that it is the wish of President Chakwera to see Qatar’s state owned flag carrier, Qatar Airways, extending its footprint to Malawi.
The Qatari flag career is ranked the best Airline for the year 2022 (for the seventh time) by the Skytrax, which is a UK-based airline, airport ranking site.
Commenting on mining, as an investment opportunity, Kunkuyu said President Chakwera also wants the Qatari investors to consider weighing in on the possibility of investing in rutile exploration and exploitation as well as adding value to the mineral.
Towards the end of last year, it emerged that Kasiya in Lilongwe has the largest rutile deposit in the world with 1.8 billion tonnes of indicated and inferred resource at 1.01 percent.
The projected deposits are more than double the rutile contained at its nearest rutile peer, Sierra Rutile, in Sierra Leone.
