Immediately succeeding his arrival in Ghana on Saturday evening, the Malawi President, Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, received a courtesy call from the African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) President and Board Chairman Prof. Benedict Oramah as one way of welcoming him.
President Chakwera is currently in Accra, Ghana where he has travelled to join other heads of African states who are attending an annual meeting organized by Afreximbank amid popular calls for Africa to re-invent its payment system that would bypass the imperialist United States dollar.
Afrexim bank, which has its headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, was established in 1993 in Abuja, Nigeria, by African Governments, African private and institutional investors as well as non-African financial institutions and private investors for the purpose of financing, promoting and expanding intra-African and extra-African trade.
President Chakwera’s trip to the meeting has been fully sponsored by the hosts (the Afreximbank) according to State House announcements made yesterday.
During the call, the Afrexim president, Oramah, expressed his profound gratitude to President Chakwera for honouring the bank’s invitation to participate in the 30th Afreximbank Annual Meetings taking place in Accra, Ghana from 18 to 21 June 2023.
Eventually, on Sunday, the Afreximbank full delegation met the president and his delegation where the Bank committed to help finance the establishment of Malawi’s mega farms project through an investment agreement.
President Chakwera’s delegation included, among others, the Minister of Finance, Sosten Gwengwe, and Minister of Agriculture, Sam Dalitso Kawale in whose domain the mega farms project falls.
“As a bank, we are ready to finance some of Malawi’s flagship projects such as mega farms and Industrial Parks as a way of enhancing development,” said Orama to the Malawi Government delegation, during a dialogue which ended with Malawi cutting the deal.
During the four-day Indaba, being held under the over overarching theme, Delivering the vision: Building prosperity for Africans, keynote addresses will be featured including panel discussions, plenaries and fireside-type conversations focusing on African trade, trade finance and development issues, including the implementation of the AfCFTA.
Some of the topics listed for discussion include: Turbo-Charging Implementation of the AfCFTA; Building Prosperity for Africans: The Challenges of Peace and Security; What would it take for Africa to feed itself—Overcoming the challenges of food security for sustainable development in Africa; Building Prosperity: African Culture and Literature as a Foundation for African Renaissance; Delivering the Vision—Corporate Perspectives; and The Future of Integration in Africa.
