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| Mutharika and Koen Verlaeckt |
Government of Flanders says will continue to support Malawi Government through its bilateral relations in areas of agriculture and food security.
Koen Verlaeckt, Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs in Flanders, pledged the support during his meeting with the Malawi President Professor Peter Mutharika at Kamuzu Palace in the capital city Lilongwe.
"Government of Flanders in terms of development cooperation, wants to be a reliable and predictable partner. On that we have committed ourselves for the 2014 to 2018 period for a total budget of €25 million (Euros) for bilateral cooperation with Malawi in thematic areas focusing on the Agriculture and food security which is the main challenge for this country right now" said Verlaeckt
Verlaeckt said is in Malawi for biannual consultation on State of Play on the execution of the Country Strategy Paper. He also said during consultation meetings with Malawi Government he found that projects being initiated by his government are on track.
But he also hinted that, during encounter with Malawi president, he made emphasis on the importance of good governance and transparency which the president raised weeks ago during address at the United Nations General Assembly.
“I had opportunity to point out to President Mutharika on the importance of good governance and accountability but this is one of the priorities which your president has raised during his address to the UN General Assembly.
"And secondly what for us is also very important is impact. The funding we are providing to Malawi for agriculture cooperation and food security, we really should make sure that the money which goes to Malawi really benefits the smallholder farmers and make sure that that happens. We need to refine a little bit some kind of activities which we are deploying for the moment" added Verlaeckt
In his remarks, President Mutharika commended Government of Flanders for its commitment in improving the livelihoods of Malawian people through implementation of projects and programmes in different sectors, including agriculture, in promoting agricultural extensions, under National SWAP Project, which is currently confined to two districts of Kasungu and Mzimba.
“It is pleasing to note that Flanders is a leading donor in agricultural extension services within the Sector-Wide Approach (SWAP) for Agriculture and Food Security. This programme is mainly concentrating on commercial agriculture, the processing of agricultural products and market development, among others.” Noted Mutharika
He informed the Flanders Secretary General that Malawi Government believes that agriculture is a key to enhancing food security, economic growth and wealth creation. But he said the sector, however, faces a number of challenges, including over dependence on rain-fed farming although the country is endowed with vast water resources like Lake Malawi and Shire River.
“To address this challenge, and in order to also achieve self-sufficiency, my Government has commenced large scale irrigation farming through a project which we call the Green Belt Initiative. The central idea is to utilize water from the lakes and the perennial rivers to enhance the country’s food and commercial crop production throughout the year.
Secretary General, May I take this opportunity to request the Flemish Government to consider supporting Malawi in the implementation of this important project? This project will significantly boost Malawi’s food security and economic growth.” appealed Mutharika
President Mutharika also expressed profound appreciation to the Government of Flanders for the timely humanitarian assistance which was provided to the Government of Malawi towards the devastating floods that affected 15 districts in Malawi.
"I am also hopeful that the Flemish Government will assist us in our post disaster reconstruction and recovery phase, which is still posing challenges." He added
The bilateral relations between Government of Malawi and Government Flanders got established in 2007.
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