By Staff Reporter
Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo. has announced that President Dr Lazarus Chakwera will not attend to important international meetings in line with the expenditure control measures the President announced on 31st May 2022.
The meetings are OPEC Fund Development Forum in Viena, Austria and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, also known as CHOGM 2022, in Kigali, Rwanda. Both meetings are taking place in June.
Minister of Energy, Ibrahim Matola and Minister of Water and Sanitation, Abida Mia will represent the President at the OPEC meeting, with the meeting organisers footing the bill for the ministers.
Meanwhile, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo will represent the President at CHOGM meeting.
Adding to the subject, Finance Minister Hon Sosten Gwengwe who was also at the Press briefing said K268 million will be saved as a result of President Dr Lazarus Chakwera decision not to attend the OPEC Fund Development Forum and Commonwealth Heads of Government meetings respectively.
Gwengwe said fiscal consolidation is key to make sure expenditure is tightly controlled.
Gwengwe also highlighted that government has not banned foreign trips but restricted to only essential trips.
“Some trips cannot be avoided, for example the President is handing over the SADC Chairmanship to DRC in August, that’s a trip that cannot be delegated,” he said.
Ministers of Information & Digitalisation, Gospel Kazako, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Nancy Tembo, and Minister of Water and Sanitation, Abida Mia jointly addressed the press in Lilongwe.
