The Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCI) has postponed the Malawi International Trade Fair to August due to political uncertainty.
The 31st Malawi International Trade Fair (MITF) was scheduled to be held from 20 – 30 June 2019 under the theme “Achieving Competitiveness through Integration into Regional Value Chains”.
According to an email MCCI has sent to participants, exhibitors from other countries are not willing to come to Malawi at this time due to post-election demonstrations being conducted across the country.
“We received positive feedback and confirmations from participants from the following countries: Indonesia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia and China.
“However, these participants have noted the political impasse and the consequent tension and uncertainty that has arisen from that impasse in this country.
“In the view of these developments, we have taken the decision to postpone the 31st MITF to 6 – 15 August, 2019, by which time we hope the clouds will have cleared. The venue and theme for the trade fair will remain the same,” says an email written by Linda Madalo Pete, MCCI’s Head of Business Linkages and Events.
Following the peaceful May 21 elections in which President Peter Mutharika was declared winner, Malawians have been conducting demonstrations to protest the outcome which they say was affected by several irregularities.
