Malawi Leader president Dr Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera, on Wednesday met with Mr. Gavin Dalgleish, Group Chief Executive Officer of Illovo Sugar Africa, on the sidelines of the ongoing BRICS SUMMIT in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The discussion between the Malawi President and the Illovo Group CEO focused on Illovo’s plans for future investments to diversify its portfolio in Malawi, leveraging the agro-industrialization focus that Government has been promoting through the pillars of Malawi 2063.

Mr. Dalgleish further thanked the President for ensuring progress on the development of the Shire Transformation Project is continuing.

He said that compared to other irrigation projects under development across Africa, Malawi’s ambitious approach is the one that has the greatest promise of being a transgenerational agricultural and economic game-changer that makes Malawi a regional leader in commercial production and a global model in the achievement of sustainable food security.

For his part, President Chakwera reiterated his Administration’s resolve to commercialize, mechanize, and industrialize Malawi’s agricultural production.

He therefore thanked the Illovo Africa Group CEO for his commitment to and demonstration of direct engagement between the public sector and the private sector as the basis for tracking progress on the synergy between public sector economic policies and private sector practices that forster the kind of growth that creates jobs and wealth for Malawians. The President also commended Mr.

Dalgleish for his commitment to ensure that Illovo uses the enabling laws of Malawi to expand its footprint in the economy of Malawi.