The Malawi Mission in Cairo organised series of business meetings for the Malawi delegation that attended the third Intra African Trade Fair (IATF2023)
The first meeting was the Malawi-Egypt Business Forum that took place on 11th November, 2023 at the Egypt International Exhibition Centre, IATF Hall 6- Room C. In attendance from the Malawi side were Her Excellency Ambassador Catherine N. Kunje; Minister of Trade and Industry Sosten Gwengwe, Ms. Christina Zakeyo the Principal Secretary for Trade and Industry, Mr MJM Phiri, MITC Board Chairperson; Mr. Paul Kwengwere MITC Chief Executive Officer, members of staff from the Malawi Mission in Cairo and Malawian Exhibitors. From the Egyptian side in attendance were Dr. Yousrey El-Sharkawi, chairman for the Egyptian African Businessmen Association (EABA).
In her speech, Ambassador Kunje informed the gathering that Malawi as the ‘Warm Heart of Africa’ offers the best in trade and industry investment opportunities. The Ambassador further pointed out that Malawi enjoys peace and stability making it the ultimate destination of tourism and infrastructure development for the benefit of the people on the continent. Delivering his speech, Minister Gwengwe invited the Egyptian businessmen to emulate Elsewedy Electric, an Egyptian company which the Government of Malawi is facilitating its investment in the energy sector through initiatives of IATF2021.
The Minister further said that the vision of Malawi Government is to move Malawi to a prosperous and well sustaining economy and the country has taken the first step through the National Development Plan “Malawi 2063”.
He highlighted that the long term development strategy has three pillars that anchor Malawi’s investment drive. These pillars include agriculture productivity and commercialization, industrialization and urbanization. The Minister concluded his speech by indicating that at the fair, Malawi was promoting Agriculture, Tourism and Mining (ATM).
In his remarks, Dr El-Sharkawi said that the objective of the forum was to enhance trade between Egypt and Malawi and other African countries using the existing regional trade agreements. He urged the participants to use this opportunity to discuss and initiate trade deals.
The speeches were followed by Business to Business meetings (B2B) between the Malawian exhibitors and the EABA delegates. Among others, the discussions were in the areas of agro-processing, infrastructure development, solar energy, textiles and tourism.
