A day-long UK-Africa Investment Summit held yesterday in London, United Kingdom (UK) is expected to strengthen UK’s partnership with African countries to create jobs and boost mutual prosperity.
President Peter Mutharika is among the 21 African presidents participating at the summit where the Malawi Government has identified various projects to be marketed to the UK through the Malawi Investment Forum.
The meeting, hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, is also aimed at accelerating Africa’s access to UK’s expertise and innovation in technology, clean energy, infrastructure and finance for sustainable growth.
One of the deals is for the UK to provide expertise and experience to help Africa transition towards renewable and sustainable forms of clean energy.
Commenting on energy production in rural areas, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development Ben Phiri said in an interview after the opening of the summit that Malawi needs to find ways of ensuring sustainable energy for development.
He said: “If we are to develop, we need to identify areas that can bring in investors and, as such, local councils need to venture into electricity generation projects.”
The summit has brought together businesses, governments and international institutions to showcase and promote the breadth and quality of investment opportunities across Africa.
It supports job creation on the continent and Africa’s economic development to build a strong partnership between the UK and African nations for prosperity.
The summit involved a number of sessions with speakers from governments and businesses from the UK and Africa and it was the first time governments and businesses from UK and Africa have come together for that purpose.
Deals worth billions of pounds have been announced which will drive jobs and growth in all parts of UK and Africa.
