Thank you very much for your coming. You are all busy people, and I don’t take your presence for granted. I want to talk about investment opportunities in Malawi.
But first, remember what Kofi Annan said early this year. “Africa is finally rising”. Indeed, Africa is growing economically. Malawi is part of this growth. Like other African countries, Malawi is registering growth in the private sector. We are thus far carrying out serious institutional reforms to secure and consolidate our growth. We are particularly consolidating the investment environment. Malawi has a lot business opportunities and potentials. As far as investment opportunities are concerned, Malawi cannot be ignored. And before I proceed, let me invite you to get a copy of our investment compendium.
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,
You have very good reasons for coming to invest in Malawi. First of all, Malawi has the resources that you need. You can be assured of raw material resources, security, market availability and a business climate conducive to investment.
Malawi has risen by 23 points on the Doing Business Index in the past twelve (12) months. And the Preferential Trade Area (PTA) Bank recently highlighted Malawi as an investment haven in the Southern African region.
In Malawi, you can invest in Agriculture and agro-processing, Energy, Mining, Tourism, Manufacturing, Infrastructure, Information Communication Technology (ICT), and Financial services, to mention a few.
Let us briefly think about Agriculture. Value addition of primary commodities is a huge area of investment. You can invest in agro-processing, agro chemical manufacturing and technology.
Then let’s come to mining. Malawi is endowed with high value and diverse mineral resources. We conducted a high resolution geophysical airborne survey. We learnt that Malawi has rock patterns with diamonds, coal, iron, niobium, uranium, graphite, phosphate, silica sand, bauxite, limestone, nickel copper and gold. We also have large recoverable oil and gas deposits.
In tourism, Malawi has amazing natural resources for tourism development. We have one of the biggest fresh water lakes, with beautiful sites. You can invest in hotels and other recreational facilities. We also have mountains that can be turned into eco-tourism sites.
Our energy sector has a shortfall of over one thousand (1000) megawatts for domestic use. With the prospects of large scale mining, the demand for energy is growing day by day. This demand is a huge investment opportunity. My Government has taken aggressive measures to diversify and develop energy production, transmission and distribution. We need partners from the private sector to take up these opportunities.
Then, there is the manufacturing sector you can invest in. Our import base is over 50 percent, for various consumables and accessories. We need investors to venture into textile manufacturing, cement production, and other products to substitute for import and increase the export base. Our decisive aim is to turn round Malawi from a predominantly importing country to a predominantly producing and exporting country. All our policies are targeting this national agenda.
Malawi is a peaceful country. Furthermore, we have a legal system that values property rights. We have a high level of investment security.
Besides, we have the labour and the market for your products. Malawi has friendly, disciplined, trainable and hardworking labour force. We are party to a wider market under the Tripartite Agreement, which comprises the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community (EAC), which has a combined total market of over 700 million people. This offers enormous market opportunities to investors.
Currently, we have launched a programme towards the establishment of Africa wide Free Trade Area. Furthermore, Malawian exports enjoy preferential market access to the EU, under the Everything but Arms (EBA) initiative, the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Japan, China, India, and a number of bilateral duty free agreements with several countries. The market is waiting for you.
We are carrying out major legislative, regulatory and institutional reforms to create an investment friendly environment. Here are some of them:
1. We are reviewing various policies and legislative instruments. We are aligning them with the national objective of promoting direct investment.
2. We are right-sizing the public service and to build systematic checks and controls. The aim is to improve public service delivery.
3. We are streamlining investment procedures and processes. That is why we established the One Stop Service Center to facilitate speedy investment procedures.
4. We are establishing industrial parks in the three regions of Malawi. You can own these industrial parks or take shares in them.
5. As I hinted above, our reforms have also targeted electricity generation. We have liberalized the energy sector by changing the legislation to allow Independent Power Producers to enter into the Malawi market.
6. My Government has a robust programme for improving and modernizing the road network. We realised that we are a land-linked country. We have been upgrading the transport corridors that link us with our neighbours.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Our reforms are at both and international levels. We want to meet international standards. Malawi has now been accepted as a member of the Extractive Industry Transparency International (EITI). This means we have deliberately chosen and fully committed ourselves to comply with international standards of doing business. Malawi is open for business.
I hope to see you in Malawi. And we look forward to doing business with you. Welcome to the Warm Heart of Africa.
I thank you all for your kind attention.
