President Lazarus Chakwera had a busy day on Tuesday as he received letters of credence from diplomats representing 17 countries.

The envoys who presented their credentials to the President at Kamuzu Palace in Lilongwe included incoming Denmark Ambassador Ole Thonke and 16 non-residential envoys from Saudi Arabia, Finland, Czech Republic, Burundi, Algeria, Venezuela, The Netherlands and Congo Brazaville.

In an interview after presenting his letters of credence, Thonke hinted at the prospect of Danish investments in renewable energy in the country.

His sentiments come at a time when Malawi targets to reach 70 percent of the population with off-grid energy solutions.

Thonke said: “We discussed the possibility for Danish investors to invest in Malawi, especially in the area of renewable energy, where Denmark is the world leading producer of wind turbines. We also have investors willing to export opportunities in solar energy in Malawi.”

Malawi’s projected electricity demand stands at 618 megawatts (MW) against the installed capacity of 528MW for both hydro and solar energy.

Off-grid energy options are, therefore, an important way of meeting Malawi’s energy needs, and Thonke said his country has many investors willing to export solar energy.

On his part, Algerian envoy Mohammed Meziane was hopeful that the two bilateral relations between Malawi and Algeria will create opportunities for institutions and companies of the two counties to establish strong links of cooperation in mining, agriculture and education.

He said in the Africa continent, Algeria and Malawi are among major actors in advancing the development agenda of the African Union and both countries can defend and promote African interests and values on the international arena. The others are Pavel Prochazka from the Czech Republic, Dr Lovell Francis from Trinidad and Tobago, Burundi’s Pascal Ruhomvyumworo, Margaret Vervijk from the Netherlands, Osamah Krenshi from Saudi Arabia and Abadi Nureldin Abdelrahma from Sudan to mention a few.

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