President Lazarus Chakwera returned home on Tuesday from the United Arab Emirates (UAE), where he went to discuss the possibility of Malawi striking a Government-to-Government (G-to-G) fuel purchasing deal with the Middle East nation.
Briefing reporters at Kamuzu International Airport in Lilongwe, Chakwera said he was happy with progress registered during the trip.
“I had the privilege of meeting with the President [His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan], meeting with various leaders in the UAE and, in particular, those connected with what we need most, in terms of fuel availability and stability in this country.
“We also had others to do with various other types of investment and we believe that, in the days that are coming, memoranda of understandings will be signed to that effect and I am very happy that we were able to do this,” Chakwera said.
His trip to the UAE came just two days after Parliament passed a law paving the way for the G-to-G arrangement of importing fuel.
Ironically, Malawi is pushing for a G-to-G fuel import arrangement at a time Kenya is set to exit the G-to-G deal it launched in April 2023 on the basis that the scheme has not worked as it hoped.
Addressing Malawians on November 27, Chakwera said a G-to-G arrangement would make Malawi’s access to fuel more secure through better payment terms and cycles.
He indicated that he had constituted a coordinating committee to facilitate and execute all aspects of the G-to-G policy.
“This committee is being supported by a technical committee of technocrats from the respective ministries and they all have my instructions to work with speed to secure the first G-to-G agreements for our country.
“As a first step in pursuing this, I have accepted an invitation from the President of the United Arab Emirates to visit him in Abu Dhabi next week, at his own government’s expense, to discuss this and other matters for the long-term fuel security of our country,” Chakwera said.
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