Malawi President addresses House of Lords

The Scotland Malawi Partnership was delighted to help organise a special meeting of the Malawi All-Party Parliamentary Group in the UK Parliament on the 17th April 2018.

The meeting was addressed by His Excellency President Peter Mutharika, who was also joined by:

• the First Lady, H.E. Prof. Gertrude Hendrina Mutharika
• the Foreign Minister, Hon. Emmanuel Fabiano, M.P.
• the Secretary for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Dr. Mbuya Isaac Munlo
• the Malawi High Commissioner, H.E. Kena Mphonda
• the Director of International Cooperation, Mr Richard Pelekamoyo

The meeting was hosted by Lord Steel in the House of Lords and included Scottish MPs including: Alison Thewliss MP, Hannah Bardell MP (who has recently returned from Malawi), Chris Law MP, Peter Grant MP, Patrick Grady MP and Deirdre Brook MP.

The President expressed his appreciation for the Malawi APPG, noting he was proud that Malawi had this forum to help represent Malawi matters across Parliament. He commented: "I am greatly impressed that the Scotland-Malawi relationship has played such a big role, helping support Malawi's cause and tell Malawi's story".

An engaging questions and answers session with MPs and Peers, as well as key representatives of the Diaspora, NGOs and Local Authority, covered areas including: mining and exploration, gender equality and female representation in Parliament, trade and exports, local government, and the fight against inequality and corruption.

The President of Malawi was visiting London as part of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).

Josephine Mpango, the SMP's Scotland-Malawi Youth Ambassador at CHOGM, asked the President about youth leadership and official support for the Youth Council of Malawi, which will be key in the delivery of the youth commitments made at CHOGM.