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

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