By Durrell Namasani
President. Dr Lazarus Chakwera Saturday engaged with leaders of the diaspora Malawians living in Dubai. In the meeting , the president has committed to opening an Embassy in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to ease challenges of Malawians living there and to develop links for trade and direct investments.
President Chakwera is in Dubai where he is scheduled to attend the Fifth Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community (G-STIC) Conference scheduled to take place from October 24 to 27, 2021.During the interface with Diaspora leaders that took place at Grand Hyatt Hotel in Dubai , the President highlighted that an Embassy in Dubai would strategically be important for Malawi as Dubai is fast becoming an global business hub.The President said there are many areas that Malawi could learn from Dubai which Malawians living in UAE could easily facilitate with the exposure and experience they have.
Speaking to 247Malawi News, the leader of delegation who is also the chairperson of Malawians Living in UAE Lloyd Mahowe thanked the President for taking time to engage with Malawians so that a number of pressing issues could be discussed including the embassy issue.
“We are happy that the President considered our top most need to upgrade the consulate to an embassy.There are about 1,000 Malawians living in UAE and it receives an average of 300 others who come for tourism, business and trade,” Mahowe said
Mahowe said the gained experience in the tourism and trade industry should be fully used by Malawi through deliberate initiatives that would be managed by the embassy.
“We have a lot of organic foods like rice and fruits in Malawi which is an opportunity to penetrate the Dubai market if we have leadership here in Dubai,” he added.
The meeting touched on a number issues including the need for an embassy in the UAE, reforming of the banking sector in Malawi to attract Diaspora Remittances, having a diaspora Policy that can ensure objective involvement of the diaspora, skills transfers from Diaspora to Malawi, lost opportunity on trade with the middle east and the need to finalize the dual citizenship.
In his statement after the meeting , the President spoke highly of the fruitful meeting highlighting that building a new Malawi requires concerted efforts , including the diaspora
“ when I met Malawians living in United Arab Emirate, I was emphatic in inviting them to be part of the process of building an inclusively wealthy and self reliant nation” read the statement from President Chakwera.
