Malawi President Lazarus Chakwera says there are hopes for an inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation if Malawi’s Agriculture, Tourism, Mining (ATM) strategy gets the international support.
President Chakwera was speaking this on Thursday December 15 at the ongoing 2nd US-Africa Leaders’ Summit in the US capital Washington DC during the Leader’s Session on Promoting Food Security and Food Systems Resilience.
In his speech, the Malawi leader said the Agriculture, Tourism and Mining sectors hold the greatest promise for unlocking Malawi’s vast potential for achieving job creation, wealth creation, and food security.
He quickly pointed out that that’s why his administration has been reorganizing 4 million smallholder farming households into cooperatives and clubs in which they can access affordable inputs like seeds and fertilizers to scale up their production for business instead of subsistence.
The Malawi leader said this approach has already seen food production over the past two years surpassing that of the previous five years and added that this is just a teaser of what is to come bearing in mind that Malawi is implementing the Mega Farms initiative, whose goal is to combine Malawi’s vast resources of arable land, fresh water, and human capital with foreign investments in irrigation technologies.
He then invited the US government and all other international investors and traders to come and do their business in Malawi especially in these three critical sectors so as to help the country realise the national development agenda, Malawi 2063 vision.
“I announced to the people of Malawi that my mission in pursuit of this vision was to attract investment and trade in three sectors that I believe hold the greatest promise for unlocking Malawi’s vast potential for achieving job creation, wealth creation, and food security. I call our focus on these three sectors Malawi’s ATM Strategy, with A standing for Agriculture, T for Tourism, and M for Mining.
“In summary, Mr. President, a partnership between Malawi and the United States in Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining, akin to the partnership we have had in Energy and Road Infrastructure through two multi-million dollar Millennium Challenge Compacts, can radically transform Malawi into the inclusively wealthy and self-reliant nation we envision for ourselves, a nation whose wealth we refuse to lose through illicit financial flows by foreign plunderers or through the corrupt acts of domestic ones,” said Chakwera.
He further told participants that Malawi has beautiful weather, lake, culture, and wildlife hence calling on investors to Malawi and develop airports, airlines, hotels, and resorts that will make Malawi an excellent host.
He added that this is why his administration announced plans to soon waive visa requirements for tourists coming from the United States and other key markets.
Chakwera also mentioned that Malawi has created licensing procedures and a structured market for its gold and rubies to end the era of exploitation and smuggling.
He then welcomed investor competition in the development of a mines around all Malawi’s precious minerals, including the recently discovered deposit of more rutile right outside Malawi’s capital than is found anywhere in the world.
Chakwera travelled to the United States on 11 December to attend the Summit from 13 to 15 December. The Malawi leader is expected to return home on 19 December.
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