Malawi High Commissioner wants better relations between Dar, Lilongwe

High Commissioner wants better relations between Dar, Lilongwe

BY AISIA RWEYEMAMU

4th November 2012.

Malawi High Commissioner to Tanzania Flossie Chidyaonga has said Tanzania and Malawi cannot afford to carry on with uncertainty, calling for the strengthening of relations between the two countries.

She said a thriving trade exits between the countries which would help eliminate poverty among their peoples, she noted, adding: “Let’s strengthen our friendship because through this friendship we can eliminate poverty.”

Chidyaonga gave the message in Dar es Salaam yesterday during the closure of the 5th Month of Women Entrepreneurship (MOWE) exhibition that attracted participants from Malawi, Kenya and Tanzania.

She added that Malawi President Joyce Banda and President Jakaya Kikwete shared the view that with partnership and collaboration the women of both countries can forget worrying about feeding their children.

Friendship between Malawi and Tanzania could be maintained through trade and business exhibitions where representatives from both countries can actively participate, Chidyaonga explained.

Tanzania and Malawi currently have a dispute over ownership of Lake Nyasa. On July 27 this year, ministers for Foreign Affairs of both countries met in Dar e Salaam to discuss the border issue.

At the meeting it was agreed that gas and oil prospecting should be suspended within the disputed points.

Malawi bases its claim on the 1890 Anglo-German Agreement signed July, 1890. Tanzania uses the same document, which confirms the presence of illogical borders and allows the two countries to meet to adjust them under the auspices of relevant Border Commissions.

Membe noted that Tanzania has a map drawn by Britain (who then ruled Tanganyika and Nyasaland, countries today known as Tanzania and Malawi).

This he said indicated that there was an agreement to review the border and locate it at the middle of the lake as is the case between Malawi and Mozambique on the same lake.

Tanzania calls the lake, Lake Nyasa, while Malawians call it Lake Malawi. Residents of both countries use the lake’s marine resources as well as conduct economic activities for decades, with governments in both countries collecting taxes.

Landlocked Malawi relies on Tanzanian ports and both countries share a lot of economic interests.

Earlier, in his closing speech Alexio Musindo, a director from the International Labor Organization (ILO) said the MOWE event would strengthen the existing good relations among the partners.

“We look forward to continuing supporting their work in financial institutions including the cooperative development in line with Mkukuta Programme,” he said.

Musindo called on financial institutions to not only provide an avenue to access funds for women entrepreneurs, but also provide business skills and access markets.

“I am confident that this event will continue to provide a good forum through which women entrepreneurs will share experience and become more aware of available opportunities and how to use them,” he said.

He added that achieving the ILO decent work agenda is only possible in the context of gender equity, where women and men benefit equally from more productive work that generate and adequate income.

MOWE Chairperson Haikael Mrema said it was one means of helping women entrepreneurs to consolidate their own network, have their concerns given attention by policy makers and have their roles as entrepreneurs recognised by the wider community.

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY