Malawi, Kenya to strengthen trade ties
Malawi and Kenya governments have agreed to strengthen their trade ties. The agreement was made at a business forum they jointly held in Lilongwe after realising that their trade volumes are low despite being in a relationship for about 50 years.
“The current trade and foreign direct investment flows between Kenya and Malawi are low, a situation which needs to be corrected given the many trade and investment opportunities existing between our countries,” said Malawi’s Minister of Industry and Trade Sosten Gwengwe.
He said as of 2010, trade value between the two countries was at $120 million, which he described as low considering that their relationship dates back to the 1960’s.
Both Malawi and Kenya are members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (Comesa) and are also committed to realising the Comesa Customs Union whose transition period was recently extended by another two years.
On his part, Minister of Foreign Affairs in Kenya Professor Sam Ongeri also lamented the low trade volume between the two countries and urged businesspeople to strike deals aimed at increasing both investment and trade inflows in both countries.
Ongeri boasted that Kenya has a vibrant and fastest growing private sector and is ready to share Malawi best practices and standards of recently implemented reforms in the east African nation.
