Malawi govt to engage with its US-based Diaspora community: President Mutharika to make cameo appearance

The Malawi Government through its Washington D.C. Embassy and New York Mission, will engage with the UN- and D.C.-based Malawi Diaspora, in two high level consultative meetings to be hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Professor Emmanuel Fabiano in New York this Sunday and next week.

According to a communique from the Malawi Embassy in Washington, the meetings, which aim to chart out elements for the Malawi Diaspora Conference that is to be held in 2018, will be held this Sunday September 24, 2017 from 12 noon at the Hilton Hotel; the Washington D.C. will be held the following Sunday on October 1, 2017, at a venue to be announced.

Consultative in nature, the Foreign Affairs Minister will interact with the Malawians, to plan for the 2018 Malawi Diaspora Conference.

It is expected the Malawi leader, Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika and First Lady Dr. Gertrude Mutharika, will make a cameo appearance at the New York Consultative meeting.

Malawi’s envoy to the U.S., Ambassador Edward Sawerengera, said to Nyasa Times that the “Malawi Diaspora Conference” was originally to be held between 29th September and 1st. October 2017 in Washington D.C.,” the Ambassador said.

He, however, said that due to unforeseeable circumstanced, the Conference, where President Mutharika was to give the key note address, has been postponed to 2018. He said, “our plan was to have not less than 200 Malawian Diaspora across the US.”

All efforts are now on working with the Malawian associations in Washington and Texas, who are assisting the Embassy in the planning process of the conference.

Ambassador Sawerengera, who is in New York, to support the President’s attendance at the ongoing United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) Summit, said the “Malawi Diaspora Conference (that) will now take place in 2018, will set pace for the Diaspora to engage with Government on matters that are important for the country.”

The key elements of the two consultative meeting are as follows: –

• An update on the Diaspora engagement programme by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
• A presentation of key elements of the Diaspora Engagement policy.
• A presentation of some possible investment opportunities.
• Presentations by the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre (MITC), the Reserve Bank of Malawi, FDH Bank, Standard Bank, and the New Finance Bank.

Sawerengera  pointed out that many countries around the world are doing this – engaging with their Diaspora, and they are reaping enormous benefits from the initiatives.

Additionally, the African Union has introduced several initiatives of engaging with the African Diaspora that will benefit the continent.

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