Ministry of Mining has expressed optimism that the first ever edition of the Malawi Mining Investment Forum that was launched in Lilongwe will be vital to the growth of Malawi’s economy.
Mining Minister Monica Chang’anamuno said this after the launch of the two-day forum which is being held under the theme ‘transforming the nation through sustainable mineral extraction’.
Chang’anamuno further said the forum will help to link financial institutions to those that are doing mining with inadequate finances.
“Our expectations are that investors that have come are going to choose Malawi as their investment destination” Chang’anamuno said
She added: “We would like to link financial institutions to those that are doing mining in Malawi because mining is capital intensive and there are so many companies that are doing mining but they don’t have finances, therefore we would like to link them with the financial institutions”
“We are hopeful that Malawi will never be the same after this forum because we have minerals that can help the growth of the economy of the country”
The launch of the Forum which serves as a platform for mult-stakeholder engagement was presided over by the State President Dr Lazarus Chakwera.
Chakwera promised that his government will continue strengthening legislation and protecting minerals through the Malawi Defence Force and other Security agents.
“We have strengthening legislation and established the mining authority to protect the country’s wealth and Iam hopeful that these efforts will transform the country economically by 2030” said Chakwera
In his speech, Minister of Mining from South Sudan, Martin Gama Abucha, highlighted the need for more investment, infrastructure and collaboration to ensure African countries benefit fully from their minerals.
Secretary General of the Africa Minerals Strategy Group, Moses Angandu said there is need for collective efforts in value addition to ensure minerals benefit African countries.
The country has most of the mineral materials that can be used to produce a lot of what the country imports, citing tiles, chalk used in schools, aluminium products, electronics, lithium batteries, fertilizers and many more.
The forum is expected to provide opportunities for investment deals and information gathering for policy decisions in a bid by the Ministry to have the sector grow to a level it can contribute at least, 10 per cent to the GDP from 0.8 per cent.
