President Lazarus Chakwera has hailed the valuable cordial relationship prevailing between Malawi and Iceland as it fosters development across many sectors of the nation’s economy. Chakwera lauded Iceland for putting Malawi as the first country where it channels more development resources than any other nation.
The Malawi leader said this last evening at a state banquet he hosted for the Prime Minister of Iceland His Excellency Mr. Bjarni Benediktsson who is in the country for a 5-day state visit.
Chakwera’s speech exclusively focused on the underlaying reasons that make him rate the relationship between Malawi and Iceland as a special one. He delineated three aspects that coerces him to regard the relationship between the two nations as uniquely superb.
“So since this is the first time that a Prime Minister of Iceland has visited Malawi, I feel compelled to tell you a few things that make the relationship between Malawi and Iceland special,” narrated Chakwera at the onset of his speech.
According to the Malawi leader, the relationship between Malawi and Iceland remains a special one, partly owing to the fact that the latter invests more of its resources in Malawi’s development programs than any other country in the world.
President Chakwera, in his speech, again rated the relationship between the two nations as special arguing that Iceland has proved to implement a development support paradigm that is biased towards bilateral cooperation.
“While Iceland supports several multilateral agencies that have programs in Malawi, the lion’s share of the country’s support comes in a bilateral framework that allows the Governments of our two nations to work closely together on implementation and execution, which fosters true partnership between us,” said Chakwera.
Furthermore, Chakwera noted that the two countries have a lot in common despite the disparity in economic status, a situation that serves a niche for Malawi to draw inspiration and emulation from its partner in a quest to achieve the 2063 agenda.
“They are a nation of pristine natural beauties like ours, a nation of beautiful lakes like ours, a nation of modest size like ours, a nation with a small economy that is not immune to volatility like ours, and a nation that needed donor help and a bailout package from the IMF like ours, and yet without destroying the environment or violating the human rights of others or trumping on the sovereignty of other nation or siphoning mineral riches from Africa, Iceland has achieved the kind of inclusive wealth and self-reliance we aspire to in the Malawi 2063 Vision,” said Chakwera.
Via his Facebook page, Chakwera highlighted some development projects implemented by support from Iceland, one of them is the construction of the Makanjira Comprehensive Emergency Obstetrics and Neonatal Facility.