Scotland, Malawi for new development partnership 

Malawi-Scotland Partnership has organized a high-level conference on Malawi and Scotland fromFriday to Saturday  under the theme Together for Sustainable Development to be held at the Bingu International Conference Centre (BICC) to celebrate the friendship between the two nations and discuss the next chapter in the bilateral relationship.

The conference will have three core areas of priority, namely United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, safeguarding and youth participation.

Malawi-Scotland Partnership  (MaSP) is a Malawian-led national network, which exists to inspire, represent, coordinate and support the many civic links which Malawi has with Scotland.

According to Vera Kamtukule, MaSP Chief Executive Officer, the partnership between the two countries has and continues to benefit both populations in many aspects.

“We do our work in partnership with the Scotland-Malawi Partnership (SMP) with financial support from the Scottish Government. Today, we are proud to say that more than 208 000 Malawians and 109 000 Scots are actively involved in community led partnerships, ” she said in a written statement made available to Nyasa Times.

She added: “As you may all be aware, the Scottish Government has just recently announced funding to Malawi Civil Society Organizations amounting to  11 million pounds (about K11.3 billion). This funding is meant to assist Malawi in realizing both her local goals as well as the global goals.

“This conference will bring together, and listen to, a range of key stakeholders across the civil society, government and parliament to explore how best to effectively implement the Global Goals Partnership Agreement”.

The conference mirrors the detailed discussion and planning which took place at the 2005 Malawi After Gleneagles conference, hosted in the Scottish Parliament, as the first Scotland-Malawi Cooperation Agreement was signed.

Kamtukule further said bringing together government, parliament and civil society, this conference will help ensure the Global Goals Partnership Agreement continues to follow this model of collaboration, goodwill and cooperation, and that it expands and evolves to become a country-to-country and people-to-people process, rather than just a government-to-government agreement.

In this way- she emphasizes-  the conference will help further re-energise the bilateral relationship and establish a direction of travel and ways of working for this next exciting chapter, in a genuinely consultative, cross-cutting and engaging manner.

Scotland Minister of European, Migration and International Development Ben Macpherson, who is on a visit to Malawi, will attend the conference.

The Malawi and Scotland partnership dates back to 160 years ago.

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