Mutharika Travels With Lean Entourage To Malta, UK, Juberg

Mutharika: traveling with few delegation 

Government says a lean delegation will accompany the President on his trip to Malta, United Kingdom and South Africa as the country continue to criticize the president for making outside travels while the country’s economy continues to slip.

President Peter Mutharika is going for Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting in Malta, Global Investment Summit in London and in Johannesburg for China Africa Cooperation Conference between 25th November to 5th December, 2015.

“With regard to the presidential delegation, the Ministry would like to inform the public that The President is traveling with the lean delegation to the three important meetings.” Said George Chaponda Minister of Foreign Affairs, in Lilongwe

Chaponda said Minister of Foreign Affairs himself and Minister of Trade will accompany the President while minister of Finance will not make it since he is busy in parliament but he will be represented by officials from the ministry. 

He indicated that these three ministries will send an official and as usual the entourage includes some protocol personnel’s who take care of President and First Lady.

He further told Journalists that the President will also be accompanied by members from business community and private sector to Valencia in Malta and London to showcase their products and meet their counterparts using their own transport.

Chaponda has however declined to disclose the budget for the whole trip “It’s a lean delegation as I said so you can compute your own figures of how much does it cost from here. But all that I can say is that compared to what the President is going to do there to represent the country surely it will be productive.”

He added that benefits of attending to the scheduled meetings are far much profitable as compared to the cost and emphasized that if President remains home then Malawi will lose out in number of issues.

President Peter Mutharika will attend the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM) scheduled for 27th to 29th November 2015 under the theme; Commonwealth Adding Global Value.

The meeting will be preceded by Commonwealth Business Forum between the 25th to 26th November 2015 where leaders will share ideas on trade investment and enterprises as engines for economic growth and improving access and outcomes of the health sector. Business people from around the world including from Malawi are expected to attend.

His trip to London in the United Kingdom for Global Investment Summit from 30th November to 2nd December 2015, Mutharika will deliver key note address on the investing in the next generation and will also hold number of bilateral meetings with British officials.

From London on 2nd December Mutharika will travel to Johannesburg in South Africa.

While in South Africa on 4th to 5th December Mutharika will participate in the forum called China Africa Cooperation under the theme: China Africa Progressing Together; Win Win Cooperation for Common Development. Chaponda said the meeting will help China and African governments to adopt the new framework of cooperation for the next three years.