Bilateral Documents
Agreements signed between Malawi and India
Malawi and India signed three agreements to strengthen the bilateral cooperation that happily exists between Malawi and India, these include; a protocol for Consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Malawi and the Ministry of External Affairs of India; a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Cooperation in the Field of Agriculture and Allied Sectors; and an agreement between the National Small Industries Cooperation of India (NSIC) and One Village One Product (OVOP) of Malawi for mutual cooperation for development of small enterprises in Malawi. The signing ceremony was held in Malawi during the visit of Right Honourable Dr. Mohammad Hammid Ansari, Vice-President of India to Malawi.
During the State visit to India, His Excellency President Ngwazi Prof Bingu wa Mutharika and the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held discussions on several bilateral issues. The two countries signed a General Cooperation Agreement; Cooperation in the field of Mineral Resources Development; Cooperation in the filed of Rural Development; and Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine to deepen ties between the two countries.
Joint Statement during the State visit of President of Malawi
November 04, 2010
1. At the invitation of the President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil, the President of Malawi His Excellency Ngwazi Prof. Bingu wa Mutharika undertook a State Visit to India from November 2 - 7, 2010. H.E. Prof. Mutharika was accompanied by Madame Callista Mutharika & 6 ministers and a 45-member business delegation. During the visit H.E. Prof. Mutharika held fruitful discussions with the President of the Republic of India, the Vice President Shri Hamid Ansari, and the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh. During talks, the two sides discussed issues of mutual interest- bilateral as well as regional and international.
2. During the visit, both sides agreed to strengthen the historical and friendly relations between India and Malawi. The Indian Prime Minister announced the reopening of the Indian mission in Lilongwe. The Malawian side welcomed this initiative of India and saw in it the manifestation of a clear desire to enhance engagement between India and Malawi. Malawi had opened its Mission in Delhi in February, 2007.
3. The Malawian side recalled the recent visit of the Vice-President of India, Shri Hamid Ansari, to Malawi in January 2010. That visit served to revitalise India’s relationship with Malawi by establishing high level political contact, increasing development cooperation and creating a larger matrix of economic engagement. Grants of US $ 5 million offered at that time to support Malawi’s development of the social sectors are under utilisation. Projects under the line of credit of US $ 50 million have been identified and a loan agreement could be signed soon. A protocol for Consultations between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Malawi and the Ministry of External Affairs of the Republic of India was signed to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries. Consultations under this were held between the two Foreign Ministries in October 2010.
4. The Indian leaders felicitated the President of Malawi for his successful leadership of the African Union. India committed itself to continue to enhance cooperation and support the development of Africa. The Malawian side noted with satisfaction the strengthening of ties between India and the African Union, especially after the India Africa Forum Summit -2008. The Indian Prime Minister emphasised that India looks forward to the next India Africa Forum Summit (IAFS) to be held next year in Africa. The Malawian President welcomed the initiative and its next summit in Africa. He noted that India’s capacity building support to Africa was contributing to the development of Africa’s future and the growing economic engagement for mutual benefit was widely welcomed in Africa. It was also noted that India has offered to establish 20 capacity building institutions in Africa including
4 Pan African institutions.
5. India and Malawi attach great importance to the expansion of opportunities for human resource development in Africa. Malawi welcomed the doubling of scholarships, the increase in India Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) training positions, the introduction of C.V. Raman Science Scholarship Scheme emanating from the decisions of India-Africa Forum Summit. India committed itself to further expansion of such facilities in the future.
6. India supports human resource development and capacity building in Malawi through the ITEC/SCAAP Programme. After the India-Africa Forum Summit 2008, India enhanced the training slots for Malawi from 15 to 30 in 2008-09 and subsequently to 36 in 2010-11. Since 2002-03, over 100 Malawian nationals have availed of the civilian training facilities in India, including through the Special Courses organised during IAFS-2008. India has also offered several new scholarships to Malawi under the decisions of the India Africa Forum Summit for use by Malawian students.
7. Malawi thanked India for extending two lines of credit totalling US $ 80 million so far to support its developmental goals. It was using the credit for developing agriculture, the greenbelt initiative and the one-village-one-product schemes which have contributed to the fulfillment of Malawi’s development goals. India has offered a special credit line of US $ 100 million to further support Malawi’s developmental priorities. India has also offered a special grant of US $ 5 million for capacity building in Malawi including the establishment of a small industry incubator.
8. The Indian Prime Minister stated that he was happy to note that Malawi had acceded to the Duty Free Tariff Preference Scheme offered by India for 33 Least Developed Countries in Africa to provide greater market access. Malawi welcomed this opportunity to enhance her exports. It was particularly noted that Malawi had increased its capacity to produce pulses which were finding greater market access in India. It was agreed to pursue sustainable trading relationships by finding complementarities among our economies.
9. The bilateral trade between India and Malawi in 2009-10 has increased by almost 100 per cent since 2008-09. Imports from Malawi to India have shown a remarkable growth during this period, increasing from US $ 7 million in 2008-09 to US $ 103 million in the year 2009-10. Both sides reiterated the need to further increase trade between the two countries as well as expand the trade basket of products and to increase bilateral trade to $ 300 million by 2013.
10. The Malawian side commended the Pan Africa e-Network Project of Government of India to facilitate tele-education, tele-medicine and video-conferencing facilities between India and Africa. This project has been completed in Malawi at three sites - VVIP Video Conferencing facility in Lilongwe, Tele-medicine facility at the Kamuzu Central Hospital, Lilongwe and Tele-education facility at the Chancellor College, Zomba. The project was officially launched on 16 August, 2010.
11. Leaders on both sides noted with satisfaction the strengthening of the growing partnership between the two countries with the signing of the following Bilateral Agreements / MoUs during the visit:
(a) General Cooperation Agreement;
(b) MOU on Cooperation in the field of Mineral Resources Development;
(c) MOU on Cooperation in the field of Rural Development;
(d) MOU on Cooperation in the field of Health and Medicine. |
