(Ministry of Finance, 23 March 2017)
Your Honourable Goodall Gondwe, Minister of Finance and Economic Development,
Your Hourable Henry Mussa, Minister of Labour, Youth Sports and Manpower Development,
Officials from the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development,
Friends from the media,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It gives me great pleasure to attend Agreement Signing Ceremony. Today we are going to provide donation and sign three agreements with the government of Malawi, namely Community Technical College, Agricultural Technology Demonstration Center, and Donation from Red Cross Society of China.
The first project is Community Technical Colleges to answer the call of H.E. Prof. Arthur Peter Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi. Manpower development holds the key to a country’s development. However, Malawi lacks high-standard technical colleges to boost this field. As a result, demographic dividends in this country is not fully tapped to help Malawi achieve fast and stable growth. Therefore, this project has come just at the right time. The main construction contents of the Project include the construction of Community Technical Colleges in five regions in the country, with a total construction area of about 7,420 square meters, which offer six courses covering bricklaying, welding, carpentry, plumbing, sewing and computer. Each college building includes the workshop, common classroom, computer classroom, reading room, office, health and shower room, equipment room, electrical room and also the corresponding teaching and internship machinery. The total cost of the project is about $ 15 million (MK 11 billion).
The second project is China Aid Malawi Agricultural Technology Demonstration Centre in Salima. Malawi is an agriculture-based economy. However, it is highly dependent on weather. If the weather is good, you can gain a good harvest. If there is drought or flood, you may have to suffer. Malawi needs to develop a technology-based agriculture and commercial farming. China is a country with advanced agriculture and rich experience. We want to share our experience and do the technical transfer. In order to help Malawi develop a strong agriculture and food security, Chinese Government agrees to dispatch eight experts to conduct technical service in the above-mentioned demonstration center and provide necessary spare parts of equipment. The period of cooperation is three years and the total expenditure is $ 2.16 million(MK1.6 billion).
The third project is the donation of disaster relief materials and office equipment from Red Cross Society of China, which amounts to $ 260 thousand (MK 200 million). As a true brother of Malawi, China will not stand by and watch our brother suffering. As a result, we decided to conduct this project.
For the above-mentioned projects, the total donation is about $ 17 million (MK 13 billion).
Ladies and Gentlemen,
You may notice that after completing some landmark infrastructure projects in Malawi. Now our bilateral cooperation is more targeted and tailored, which pays more attention to agriculture, education or manpower development. We believe it is “people” that can make real difference, it is “people” who can truly realize development of a country.
This year marks the 10th anniversary of our bilateral ties. We will further promote our communication and cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, culture, manpower development and so on. I am sure that through the concerted effort from our two sides, the relations between China and Malawi will reach a new high!
Thank you!