By Isaac Jali
Minister of Industrialisation, Business, Trade and Tourism Simon Itaye has commended the European Union (EU) for providing Malawi and other Least Developed Countries (LDCs) with duty-and quota-free access to its market for the past 25 years.
Itaye was speaking in Lilongwe during celebrations marking 25 years of Malawi’s access to the EU market under the Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative.
He said the arrangement has enabled Malawian products, including tea, sugar, beans and coffee, to access the European market without import duties, creating opportunities for jobs and economic growth.
He said the arrangement has enabled Malawian products, including tea, sugar, beans and coffee, to access the European market without import duties, creating opportunities for jobs and economic growth.
Itaye described the policy as testimony of EU commitment to ensuring that no country should be held back from global trade by its level of development.
He also urged local exporters to improve their competitiveness and comply with EU market standards.
EU Ambassador to Malawi Daniel Aristi promised to continue supporting Malawi and other LDCs especially now when Asian countries who benefited are graduating.
However Ambassador Aristi said he wants to see greater value addition on Malawi products with full compliance of standards of that market.
On the emerging mining sector, Ambassador Aristi also said EU is ready to collaborate with Malawi to find competitive markets for its mineral resources.
To the private sector, he urged for more innovation, quality control and strict adherence of EU market standards.
EBA is a EU policy that gives LDCs complete duty-free and quota-free access to the EU market for all exports, with the sole exception of arms
Among the milestones, Malawi has exported to EU through the arrangement, goods worth $1.4 billion while importing $900 dollars worth of goods from the EU.
