By Kondanani Chilimunthaka

President Lazarus Chakwera has told the nation that top priority of his administration is to increase Malawi’s productivity through the promotion of commercialization, industrialization, and urbanization as it remains the key to achieving job creation, wealth creation and food security in the country.

Speaking when he presided over the official opening of the newly constructed Malawi Bureau of Standards Complex and the inauguration of the 33rd Malawi International Trade Fair in the commercial city of Blantyre on Wednesday, 17th May, 2023, Chakwera said he has been doing all what he can in pursuit of increased productivity for the country which include directing the gazette of the SME order to create business growth opportunities for local enterprises, addressing a global forum of international investors, and restoration of the broken relationship with neighboring countries that are Malawi’s first trading partners.

“The pursuit of increased productivity is the reason I go far and wide to negotiate trade and investment deals and secure new markets. The pursuit of increased productivity is the reason I rolled out the ATM Strategy in December to focus on boosting production in the Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining sectors this year.

It is this reason I am hosting another Investment Summit in the six days to bring local and international investors together to brainstorm on how we can expedite growth in these three sectors, followed by an Investment Forum that my officials will do in South Africa that same week.” Said the President while urging Malawians to focus on economic productivity.

He further said while the past regime through its decisions saddled the country with unsustainable debt that affected the productivity, Covid-19 pandemic, Tropical storms, drought that hit the country, and conflict in Eastern Europe caused enormous challenges on the economic productivity of Malawi. But Malawi leader quickly said time has come for the country to build back the lost economic productivity which he said Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) is a key towards the attainment.

President Chakwera then said he is optimistic that the new MBS Complex will be instrumental in addressing challenges relating to certification of products in the country.

“To put it bluntly, Minister, I want the complaints from the private sector players attending this Trade Fair about the slowness of Government in issuing certificates to end, because in this digital age, no certificate should require a business to walk physically into any office and no certificate should take note than few days to secure.” Added President Chakwera.

He has since urged Malawians to be proactive in taking advantage of trade agreements Malawi has like the COMESA, SADC, AfCTA, and the TFTA which offer the country opportunities for international markets.

This year’s Malawi International Trade Fair is being conducted under the theme “Rebalancing Malawi’s Trade through Industrialization”.