Bilateral Meeting with His Excellency Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi

Rome - FAO Director-General QU Dongyu and His Excellency Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, President of the Republic of Malawi, met today at FAO headquarters in Rome.

The Director-General welcomed the President and expressed his appreciation for the close engagement between FAO and Malawi, referencing the frequent meetings and interactions between them since the Director-General took office, which reflected the effective collaboration between the Organization and the government of Malawi, especially at the country level.  In this regard, the Director-General informed that FAO had recently approved the Malawi FAO Country Programming Framework (CPF).

The Director-General also commended the President for his role as Chair of the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) Group, recalling their meeting held on the margins of the LDC5 meeting in Doha in March 2023.  

The President expressed gratitude to the Director-General and the FAO team in the country for the close collaboration and support in the agriculture sector. He informed of Malawi’s intention to pursue an Agriculture, Tourism, and Mining (ATM) strategy to promote socio-economic growth. The strategy will put emphasis on agriculture, together with other key priorities, and will facilitate the participating of smallholder farmers in cooperatives, as well as promote industries across the country to improve food security and promote agrifood systems transformation. He stated that the intention is to make agriculture a big business, but that the impacts of El Niño was creating a huge challenge in the country and across southern Africa. He further stated that Malawi wants to grow their tourism particularly around Lake Malawi.

The President recognized the longstanding and fruitful working relationship between the Organization and Malawi and noted that the recently approved CPF would further support the country’s ATM strategy, and in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

The Director-General reiterated his appreciation for the President’s leadership and strategic vision in support of agrifood systems transformation and further noted that the FAO investment Centre could provide direct technical support to Malawi on its request to improve agriculture through irrigation development, renewable energy, aquaculture development, horticulture and food processing. He further noted that Malawi could participate through the World Food Forum (WFF) and its three pillars: Women and Youth; Science and Innovation; and the Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum to create a Malawi Chapter for the presentation of an investment plan at the WFF Annual Meeting in Rome in October 2024.