Minister of Trade and Industry Simplex Chithyola Banda says Malawi Government is elated to have clinched a deal with the Al Sayegh Group (ASG) Group of United Arab Emirates (UAE) who wants to invest in the promotion of local farmers in Malawi through cooperatives.
Speaking at the end of the Abu Dhabi Annual Investment Summit on Friday Chithyola Banda said Malawi’s presentations and business potential has excited many serious investors who are considering investing in Malawi agriculture sector.
“ASG Group is one of the largest and leading multinational conglomerate of companies and investments of UAE domiciled in Abu Dhabi with investments in Senegal, Ivory Coast, Mali and several other African countries. As a country we have created a conducive legal framework that facilitates and eases cost of investing through the ministry and Malawi Investment Trade Centre which offers One-Stop Services providing information about potential areas of investments.
“All these value chains earmarked by ASG such as soy, tea and macadamia grow well in Malawi and the most pleasing thing is that ASG will work directly with farmers hence empowering them economically and the factories that they will establish will create jobs,” Chithyola Banda said.
The ASG Group is one of many investors the minister met which included the Rotana Hotels Group, a Conglomerate that specialises in hotel management and investments with a large footprint in African countries such as Tanzania.
ASG founder and chief executive officer Sheik Abdul Jabber Al Sayegh said Malawi is their next destination for investment because they have heard that tea, soya and macadamia crops do well.
During the one week in UAE the minister held talks with Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Tolerance and Co-Existence, Ministry of Foreign Trade, Abu Dhabi Chambers of Commerce, Rotana Group, ASG Group among others.
