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Herald Reporter—
Malawi is seeking to learn a lot from Zimbabwe in the diamond extraction industry, as well as acquire skilled manpower in various fields, an envoy said yesterday. Lilongwe representative in Harare Ambassador Annie Kumwenda, revealed this after paying a courtesy call on Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa at his Munhumutapa offices.
She said they had discussed issues of importance to the two countries.
“We discussed issues focusing on the bilateral relationships, which are already existing between Zimbabwe and Malawi,” Ambassador Kumwenda said.
“We looked at the best practices, which we can share and learn from each other. We discussed the mining industry here in Zimbabwe.
“In Malawi, all along we didn’t know that we have minerals, but now it’s emerging that we also have minerals and we feel with the experience that we have in the Sadc region, mainly in Zimbabwe, Malawi can learn a lot from the country.”
Ambassador Kumwenda said Zimbabwe had experts in various fields, which could benefit Malawi.
“We already know all of us that Zimbabwe is the top rated educated nation in Africa and of late we have also seen Malawi tapping into those skills,” she said.
“More and more Malawian companies and organisations are opting to hire skilled labour from Zimbabwe. There are a lot of training facilities here when you compare with Malawi. We also know that there are Malawians in some of the training institutions here and of late we are getting more and more students going to universities in Malawi.”
Ambassador Kumwenda added: “In our discussions, we also looked at how we can reinforce the cooperation on trade and industry. We feel that before we start exploring outside the Sadc region, we should first exhaust the marketing opportunities, which exist locally.”
Ambassador Kumwenda said the large Malawian community living in Zimbabwe had strengthened the bond between the two countries.
“Over the years, they have become almost Zimbabwean because some of them can’t even trace where they came from and can’t even speak Chewa (the Malawian local language),” she said.
“That relationship, if you look at inter marriages, reinforces the relationship between the two countries.”
Social and cultural relations between the two countries date back to the colonial era.
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