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REPUBLIC OF MALAWI

STATEMENT BY

HIS EXCELLENCY PROF. ARTHUR PETER

MUTHARIKA, PRESIDENT OF THE

REPUBLIC OF MALAWI

AT THE

VISIT OF MAPETO (DWSM) LIMITED

BLANTYRE

10TH JULY, 2015

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The Minister of Industry and Trade, Hon, Joseph

Mwanamvekha, MP;

The Chairman of Mapeto David Whitehead and Sons

Limited Mr Faiza Latif

The General Manager of Mapeto David Whitehead and

Sons Limited, Mr. Martin Mpata;

The District Commissioner for Blantyre District Mr

Charles Kalemba;

The Mayor for Blantyre District Assembly Mr Noel

Chalamanda;

Senior Government Officials Present here;

Captains of the Industry; Members of the Press;

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen.

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It is my distinctive pleasure to take this opportunity of touring the new manufacturing facilities for Mapeto (DWS) Limited which has continued to make investments in value addition of locally grown cotton as shown by their recent modernisation efforts in the acquisition of new machinery for printing, dyeing, boilers, water recycling and weaving.

It is also my pleasure to visit Mapeto after the just ended Malawi Investment Forum where investors from across the globe courted Malawi seeking to invest and establish partnership with local companies. I hope Mapeto took advantage of the forum to establish business links with investors or financiers.

Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me personally commend efforts by Mapeto and other manufacturing companies for investing in value addition projects in the country. These efforts are supportive of my Governments agenda on industry and trade which seek to promote manufacturing, value addition and diversification from the traditional foreign exchange earners such as tobacco, tea, coffee and sugar to other products such as cotton and cotton products. These efforts are also crucial for employment creation, foreign exchange generation thereby uplifting the lives of the majority of Malawians in the country.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

My Government is aware of the numerous challenges that the manufacturing sector encounters in conducting day to day businesses which include inadequate energy and water supply for industrial use, high cost of borrowing, influx of cheap smuggled products, and the high transportation costs. In order to deal with these challenges, my Government is creating a

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favourable and conducive environment for the manufacturing sector by undertaking the following:

i. Strengthening capacity of the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), the Malawi Police Service (MPS), the Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS) and all other border agencies with a view to deal with smuggling;

ii. Increasing the power generation capacity by among others initiatives encouraging the participation of the private sector in the energy generation and diversifying to other sources including solar and thermo;

iii. Embarking on increasing the capacity of Mudi Dam in order to increase water supply;

iv. Upgrading the roads and our railway lines as well as embarking on the establishment of the Shire Zambezi Water Way in order to reduce the transportation costs.

v. Reviving the Buy Malawi campaign to enhance the consumption of domestic products such as clothing, shoes, pharmaceuticals and agro products;

vi. Undertaking a comprehensive tax review which will among other things provide predictable and suitable incentives for the manufacturing sector; and

vii. Intensifying efforts towards the establishment of a Development Bank that will be providing long term capital financing for industrial development at competitive interest rates;

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

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You may also wish to recall that Malawi was among the countries that recently signed the Tripartite Free Trade Area (comprising of the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA), the East African Community (EAC) and the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). This arrangement offers a greater export market opportunity for most of our products. In addition, Malawi has a non-reciprocal market access opportunity under the African Growth Opportunity Act (AGOA) which include duty free and quota free market access. I would therefore like to encourage Mapeto and other manufacturing companies to take advantage of these available opportunities.

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

Let me once again commend Mapeto (DWS) for investing in the new machinery which will definitely increase the productive capacity as well as improve the quality and standards of the final product. I am also sure that a lot of our young men and women will find employment here as a result of increased production. It is hence my sincere hope and plea to all other manufacturing companies in the country to emulate this very commendable gesture which will take the country to another level.

With these very few remarks, I would like to thank you all for your attention and may God Bless Malawi.

I Thank You