Malawi President Peter Mutharika says his government will soon negotiate for a line of credit from the government of India to finance the greenbelt initiative.
The President disclosed this during an audience with Indian Minister of State, Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Gouodara Mallikarjunappa Siddeshwara at Sanjika Place on Monday.
Mutharika hinted that irrigation agriculture is an answer to Malawi’s issues of adverse and unpredictable weather. Having reliable irrigation infrastructure would mitigate Malawi’s unpredictable weather.
“In 2008 for the first time, we got a generous line of credit from the government of India to the tune of 163 million dollars which assisted us in areas of agriculture, petroleum storage tanks, sugar processing plant and capacity building. In 2010, we also got a credit of $5 million which assisted us in areas of science and technology and the health sector. As Malawians, we are very much appreciative of that,’’ said Mutharika.
President Mutharika said Malawi has a lot of things to learn from Indian citing the Community Technical Colleges as one area that needs to draw lessons from.
“Recently we opened the Community Colleges and the Malawi University of Science and Technology where we expect to be getting expertise in a form of visiting lecturers,” he said.
The President described Siddenshawara’s visit as a symbol of cordial relationships between the two countries which dates back since Malawi’s independence in 1964.
“The first person to benefit from this relationship was the late Willie Chokani from the University of Dehli who got the first Master’s Degree from India and the second one was Professor Bingu Mutharika, my own brother and our own Minister of Foreign Affairs here who is also a beneficiary of Indian scholarships,” Mutharika said.
Taking his turn Siddenshawara pledged his countries continued support to Malawi’s social and economic endeavours.
“I came here as special envoy for the Prime Minister to extend an invitation India’s India African summit to held in October, our relationship with Malawi dates back the time when we got independence in 1947 while you got yours in 1964, since then the relationship has be cordial to the benefit of our people we attach greater importance to this kind of relationship,” said Siddedhwara.
