Gabonese Government says it will be importing cassava flour and other food items from Malawi.
Speaking on Monday in Libreville when Malawi delegation visiting industrial parks in Gabon paid a courtesy call Gabonese Minister of Commerce and Industry Yves Fernand Manfoumbi said he is geared to come to Malawi in a mission to concretize the trade deals emphasising time has come for Africans to intensify trade amongst themselves.
“Gabon imports most of it’s food and other items across Atlantic Ocean but time has come that we utilize the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) to buy our food items from Malawi. We import a lot of wheat flour but lately it has been recommended that cassava flour is the best and we have found out that Malawi grows cassava so using the trade platform created by AfCFTA we would like to trade with Malawi,” he said.
Malawi minister of trade and industry Simplex Chithyola Banda said with Gabon showing serious interest to import food items from Malawi it is high time trade and agriculture ministries collaborated in engaging smallholder farmers, cooperatives and some commercial farmers to grow more cassava value chain specifically to meet the Gabonese demand.
“We are happy Gabon is also interested in Malawi tobacco, tea, macadamia, soya beans and other cereals. We came here on study tour of the industrial parks under the Malawi Special Economic Zones (SEZ) but we on top of that we are making trade deals,” he said.
During the visit Chithyola Banda officially planted an avocado pear tree at Gabonese Special Economic Zones premises as a symbol of their serious commitment to promotion of SEZ concept.
The Malawi delegation has since proceeded to Benin and Togo to continue with the study tour and will be back in Malawi next week.
