On Thursday July 14, 2016, the Government of Malawi launched the Malawi Trade Portal; a one stop website for trade related regulatory information on import, export and transit trade.

The website being hosted under the link malawitradeportal.gov.mw, among others, contains information on trade laws, regulations and procedures, acts, application forms, standards, licences and permits, tariffs, taxes, levies and links to all trade related institutions in Malawi.

Officially launching the website at Mount Soche Hotel in Blantyre, the Minister for Trade, Industry and Tourism, Honourable Joseph Mwanamveka, M.P, commended the website team for working tirelessly in putting together the portal.

“I would like to thank you all for your hard work. In a special way let me thank our financial partners, the World Bank Group, for funding this project,” said the Minister.

Mr. Mwanamveka added that the website will ease doing business in Malawi and also push the country forward on the international trade index.

“The portal will enhance better trade in Malawi by providing a one-stop platform for all trade related information in turn bringing down some trade related costs and bribery as traders will not have direct contact with custodians of information. Not only this, the portal may push Malawi forward on the trade index where we are currently number 141 out of 189 countries,” added the Minister.

He thanked all government agencies that were involved in providing information and technical support in the development of the portal.

‘’Let me in a special way recognize and thank the Malawi Revenue Authority (MRA), one of the key stakeholders in this project together with institutions like Malawi Industry Trade Centre (MITC), Malawi Bureau of Standards (MBS), Malawi Communication Regulatory Authority (MACRA) and the many others for a job well done,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the business community President of the Malawi Confederation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (MCCCI), Karl Chokhoto, hailed the ministry for delivering the portal emphasizing that there should be a clean strategy to sustain the portal to ensure it is always alive.

By Emma Mwasinga.