MITC Chief Executive Officer Paul Kwengwere said this ahead of the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair scheduled to take place from July 28 to July 13 this year where some Malawians are expected to participate.

As part of the Covid-19 recovery plan, the government has been organizing and facilitating local traders’ participation in international exhibitions as a way of enhancing the country’s export base.

Now, the Malawi Investment and Trade Centre is optimistic that this initiative will help to improve the export base with at least 20 percent, on the last recorded 2021's K2 billion to reach K2.4 billion.

Kwengwere says the concept of Mega Farms will also play a critical role.

This is a Malawi government public private sector initiative to grow huge tons of commercial crops on large farms that are currently either idle or being underutilized.

“Malawi still has a big deficit in terms of our imports and exports. There is some slight improvement and we are hoping that there will be more productivity in different commodities that can be exported for Malawi and our participation in International Trade Fairs is key,” he said.

Economic expert Innocent Makuta says it is ideal for Malawians to participate in such activities but says the government should put strategies to ensure the goods the country is exporting are of high value.

“Participating in such trade fairs is a positive development because it helps the local producers to get an opportunity to create foreign markets for their products thereby reducing the foreign trade deficit the country has been experiencing,” he said.

He added, “However, it is important to take note that it is important to add value to the products and services we export because it is not the volume of exports that matters but also the value of the products.”

In 2020, Malawi’s export base shrunk to K1.3 billion due to the effects of the pandemic from 2019’s K1.5 billion.