Trade
Trade Ministry lauds achievements of Export Strategy
October 16, 2019 / Wahard Betha
The Ministry of Industry, Trade and Tourism has lauded achievements in the implementation ofthe first National Export Strategy (NES I) which ran from2013 to 2018.
Principal Secretary in the Ministry Ken Ndala said during a consultative workshop in Lilongwe to brainstorm on the design of the National Export Strategy IIthat achievements of the initial phase include development of the Trade, Industrial and Small and Medium Enterprises Policies; and Control of Goods Act.
The achievements also include operationalization of the Buy Malawi Strategy; development of the National Trade Facilitation Action Plan; Construction of Standardization, Quality Assurance, Accreditation and Metrology (SQAM) infrastructure at Malawi Bureau of Standards; setting up of One Stop Border Posts; and establishment of One Stop Service Centre at Malawi Investment and Trade Centre.
Ndala said fruits of the NES I also include Simplified Trade Regimes, establishment of Online Business Registration System, establishment of the Collateral Registry, Development of the Financial Literacy Strategy, Development of the Warehouse Receipt Bill, The Credit Reference Bureau Act,and The Personal Property Securities Act.
“The NES I also yielded the Establishment of Online Investment; Development of Labor Market Information System (LMIS); Development of the National Labor and Employment Policy; Establishment of Malawi Trade Portal; and Linking smallholder irrigation schemes to seed companies,” he said.
Ndala also said the strategy resulted in the introduction of an online Oil Seed Extension Coordination Platform and Decentralization of the issuance of crop buying licenses to Agricultural Development Divisions (ADDs) across the country.
He saidthese outstanding results were achieved through Technical Working Groupswhich were set under the Trade, Industry, and PrivateSector Development Sector Wide Approachasthe implementation platform of the NES I.
Ndala said such benefits from the NES I are an inspiration to launch the NES IIadding that the first phase has provided legal frameworks for the implementation of NES II.
He said it is imperative to undertake NES II tofinalize the key investments that were supposed to be undertaken in the sector under NES I as well as deal with emerging issues that will be identified in this successor strategy.
Despite the notable achievements, the NES I still did not fully address the policies that the Ministry set in the plan.
Ndala said the under performance of the NES I was due to the deficient resource mobilization with heavy dependence on development partners and donor agencies and also low level of investment in productive sectors in terms of local investment in manufacturing projects with high value addition.
“The NES was overdesigned and too ambitious to be realized within a five-year period, given the prevailing conditions; It reflected more of an Industrial Policy rather than an Export Policy as very limited actions for effective export promotion, facilitation, export development, aftercare, and policy advocacy were planned,” he said.
Ndalaalso said week and ineffective collaborative framework between Ministries and Agencies affected competitiveness of local products and services on the international markets following the higher costs of doing business in Malawi as compared to other competing countries.
Commenting on the challenges faced, Director of Planning in the Ministry Francis Zhuwaosaid the obstacles arose due to unpredictable financing leading to no drastic growth in exports as expected that necessitated the review and development of the successor strategy.
“With support from the Commonwealth Secretariat, we have therefore gone into the development of a successor strategy. It is my sincere hope that we will give this process the same support that we gave during the design of the NES I,” Zhuwao said.
He expressedgratitude to the Commonwealth and all development Partners in the Trade, Industry and Private Sector Development sector for technical and financial support.
In her remarks, Commonwealth Trade Adviser Yinka Bandele said the body saw it right to fulfil their duty of supporting developing countries on economic issues.
Bandele said: “The Commonwealth is very committed to supporting member countries’ efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, including through trade. We look forward to working with the Government of Malawi on a new strategy that will overcome key hurdles to growth and help transform the economy.”
She further urged the government to draw lessons from the previous NES in strategizing the new plan.
Bandele also said Malawi needs to work on economic diversification to do away with over-dependence on agricultural produce.
Malawi, whose main export commodities include tobacco and tea,is facing a significant trade deficit as it is importing about twice the value of goods it exports.
The Ministry is, therefore, working on finding solutions to issues affecting trade competitiveness, and identifying priority sectors for export development and lead markets for increased trade.
The Ministry is designing NES II and Action Plan for 2020-2025, a process which will be finalized later this year.
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