Malawi has described the just-ended Southern Africa Development Community (Sadc) Heads of State and Government Summit in Botswana as successful after getting three of its projects approved.
Speaking at the end of the summit on Tuesday, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation George Chaponda, who was representing President Peter Mutharika, said Malawi had gained a lot through projects approval and initiation of new projects that will benefit the citizenry.
He said: “In this connection, three Malawi transport and energy projects have been approved for financing under the 11th European Development Fund [EDF] of the Sadc Regional Indicative Programme [RIP].
“These projects are feasibility studies and designs for the Chileka International Airport Rehabilitation and the Kamuzu International Airport Rehabilitation, as well as the Environmental and Social Impact Studies [ESIA] on the Malawi-Mozambique Power Interconnector.”
Chaponda said the Malawi-Mozambique interconnector will help reduce cases of load shedding in Malawi as well as make it more attractive for investment as it will have dependable energy capacity to meet investor needs.
The summit also saw Malawi’s tenure in the Sadc Troika come to an end after serving for three years since August 2012.
During the summit, Malawi was also hailed on the status of the implementation of the Sadc Road Map for Digital Broadcasting Migration alongside Mauritius, Namibia and Tanzania for meeting the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) Analogue Switch Off (ASO) deadline of June 17 2015.
Speaking Tuesday in his closing statement of the summit, Botswana President and new Sadc chairperson Ian Khama Seretse Khama said the people of Sadc expect more from the leaders, hence the need to follow to the letter the agreed priorities.
He said Sadc citizens “would not judge us by the adoption of key strategic documents, but rather by the outcomes achieved, following implementation”.
