Key officials from the government of Malawi, including the Minister of Trade and Industry, Joseph Mwanamvekha and Clement Andrew Kumbemba, CEO of the Malawi Investment and Trade Center travelled to London this week for a series of meetings with over 25 interested investors from the UK, Germany, United States, Singapore, Latin America and China, amongst others.
Mwanamvekha: Successful talks
Kumbemba: Malawi offers what investors want
Speaking in London, Minister Mwanamvekha said the mission of this trip was to understand investor requirements ahead of The Global African Investment Summit (TGAIS) that will be held in London on the 1 – 2 December 2015, where Malawi President Peter Mutharika, will present to potential investors.
“Foreign Investors have shown an overwhelming expression of interest in Malawi across key industry sectors that been identified by the government of Malawi as having potential for driving socio-economic growth and inclusive development. These sectors include infrastructure, agro-business, agriculture, mining, ICT and importantly power.
“We look forward to welcoming these investors to Malawi to present their Heads of Agreements to the technical Ministries in September 2015,” said Minister Mwanamvekha.
Malawi’s stable economic and political climate provides an enabling environment for private sector investment leading to sustainable and inclusive growth.
The country’s real GDP growth is projected to accelerate to 6.2% in 2015.
Kumbemba, CEO of the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre said :“Malawi offers what investors want – the political will from the President to ensure investments are safe, above-average investment returns, a strong and hard-working labour force, a rich natural and mineral resource base and unexploited mineral deposits, a well-enforced legal system that is based on English law and importantly political stability, Malawi is one of the very few African countries that has never had a civil war.”
The London investor meetings were facilitated by The Global African Investment Summit as part of its initiatives to bring together investors and African governments to present their investment projects.
“The government of Malawi’s efforts to uplift the country and its citizens by understanding investor’s needs and how they can best meet those needs is highly commendable,” said Paul Sinclair, head of TGAIS.
Malawi is a signatory of the International Convention for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) and Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), a World Bank institution.
The country is party to a number of regional and international trade agreements that have proved to be enormous benefits to new and existing investors. One of the attractions of Malawi is the freedom of entry and exit in terms of investment in the country.
The government of Malawi does not impose restrictions on the ownership or location of investment and welcomes FDI in all sectors of the economy except for those that may pose a danger to health, the environment or the security of the nation.
Foreign exchange operations in Malawi are governed by the Exchange Control Act. Investors are permitted full remittance of dividends, investments capital on repatriation, interest and principal payments for approved international loans.