By Rosalia Kapiri

Lilongwe, February 12, Mana:  Ghana’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, Shirley Ayorkor Botchwey, has said her country will continue to maintain and strengthen its long-term bilateral relationship with Malawi.

She was speaking at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe on Monday soon after presenting letters to President Lazarus Chakwera to renew Ghana’s bilateral relations with Malawi.

Botchwey added that her country will align its priorities with Malawi’s trade and investment sector, saying there is a lot of potential for the two countries to flourish together economically.

She further said apart from the trade and investment sector, her country will also work with Malawi in other sectors like climate, youth empowerment and innovation startups, labour migration and marketing.

“Commonwealth developed countries and not so developed countries have a lot of potential to trade and invest in each other’s countries and alongside create job opportunities for the youth since we have a very youthful country. We want to see a lot of industrialized countries,” said Botchwey.

She said the countries need to advocate as a block to deal with issues of adaptation, mitigation and climate financing, saying climate is key and relevant among all the member states of the Commonwealth, as it is also affecting most countries' economies negatively.

Speaking in an interview, Minister of Foreign Affairs Nancy Tembo commended Ghana for the continued relationship it holds with Malawi.

“The Minister from Ghana had talks with President Chakwera where the two countries agreed the need for the two countries to continue working together and strengthen their relationship which spans way back from the Kamuzu Banda era.

“This is something that we need to carry together and there is so much we can do together to economically boost each other’s economy,” said Tembo.

Apart from presenting bilateral letters to Malawi, the Ghanaian Minister also visited the country to ask for support from President Chakwera, as Ghana has decided to field her as candidate for the post of secretary general of the Commonwealth.