STATEMENT BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR. LAZARUS McCARTHY CHAKWERA PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI DURING THE JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH HIS EXCELLENCY DANIEL FRANCISCO CHAPO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE 

REPUBLIC OF MALAWI


STATEMENT 


BY HIS EXCELLENCY


DR. LAZARUS McCARTHY CHAKWERA


PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MALAWI


DURING


THE JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH HIS EXCELLENCY DANIEL FRANCISCO CHAPO PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF MOZAMBIQUE 


LILONGWE, MALAWI


FRIDAY, 6^TH JUNE 2025

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It’s an honour to stand before you with my brother, the President of the Republic of Mozambique, His Excellency Mr. Daniel Francisco Chapo, as he concludes his maiden visit to Malawi, which has been a huge success. Although I cannot claim that he and I stand shoulder to shoulder, because of his visibly towering height, I am happy to report that he and I nonetheless see eye to eye on so many issues affecting our two nations. 

During his visit here, he and I have had an hour-long tete-atete in which we discussed all the areas affecting our bilateral relationship. Of particular interest to me in that discussion was the progress that we are both eager to continue making over the next five years on developmental and economic matters, including the facilitation of Malawi’s petrol and diesel at the port in Beira, the construction of a dry port for Malawi’s use in Nacala for which Mozambique already pledged the provision of land, the revival of rail transportation through the Sena Corridor which previous Administrations had allowed to die, the implementation of the Malawi-Mozambique Interconnection Power Line to link Malawi’s grid to the Southern Africa Power Pool, the construction of One-Go-Border-Posts at various points of entry between Mozambique and Malawi, one of which he and I commissioned at the Dedza-Calomue Border, just to name a few. And as a testament to our resolve to continue this progress, His Excellency President Chapo insisted that we crown this visit with the signing of several memoranda of understanding, including one to do with an air service agreement that will result in the introduction of direct flights between Malawi and Mozambique, which will be a game changer for our tourism and trade sectors. Thank you, Mr. President. 

I am also delighted that this visit coincided with the Joint Permanent Commission of Cooperation whose positive outcomes are in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ communique for everyone to see. It is critical that these developments should continue, and so I expect all my Ministers who have been part of those discussions to sustain the momentum so that Malawians can see the full benefits of these interventions. We must never take good friends for granted because they are very hard to find in this world and harder still to keep, and during my first term in office Malawi has been blessed with friendly relations on all sides, and none has been a better friend to us than Mozambique, first under the tenure of former President Filipe Jacinto Nyusi, and now under the leadership of President Daniel Francisco Chapo. In fact, the fact that the people of Mozambique elected President Chapo in order to keep the ruling party in power so that there is no disruption to development and economic recovery efforts is a blessing for us as Malawians, because it means that the friendliness we have enjoyed and the progress we have made with the Administration in Mozambique over the past five years can continue for the next five, allowing us to have the kind of stability in diplomatic relations necessary for the prosperity Malawians can look forward to in the coming months. 

Noone here in Malawi should misunderstand the situation in Mozambique. Mozambicans have gone through some tough times over the past few years, including the devastation of Cyclone Freddy that hit them even worse than it hit us, all in the middle of an armed conflict with terrorists in Cabo

Delgado. And yet in spite of these challenges, the people of

Mozambique have shown great wisdom in their election of His Excellency Daniel Chapo as President, for he represents continuity and forward-looking progress. So even though Mozambique has gone through turbulent times, it has better days ahead because they were wise enough to remember that you do not change the captain of a ship while in the middle of a storm. 

So, Your Excellency, I congratulate you on your election as the 5^th President of Mozambique, and I pledge you my full support throughout your tenure of office. I look forward to working with you to strengthen the partnership between our two countries over the next five years, and on behalf of all Malawians, I thank you for coming to Malawi so quickly after your election so that we could celebrate together this Golden Jubilee of 50 Years of friendly relations between our countries. And so it is my distinguished pleasure to invite Your Excellency to address the press and the people of Malawi, who are not just your neighbours, but your brothers and sisters.

Muito Obrigado.