Link to article: https://allafrica.com/stories/202110250145.html
President Dr. Lazarus Chakwera has committed to opening an Embassy in the United Arab Emirates. This was declared Saturday. The purpose is to ease the living challenges of Malawians and to develop links for trade. In a direct quote from Chakwera, he states, “There are a lot of gains in having an embassy in Dubai since it is becoming everyone’s city. We believe we need to have an embassy here and this should not be an issue, we will work on establishing one,”. Due to the fact that there are many Malawians living in Dubai, the President believes that there are many ways Malwai could benefit from the experience those people have from living in the UAE. The experience in tourism and trade is said to be one of the prime reasons for the opening of an Embassy. Chairperson Lloyd Mahowe believes that Malawi is able to get into the Dubai market through leadership and farming. However, some of these Malawians that are living in the UAE are concerned about increased taxes, the need for dual citizenship, and the process to renew passports.
I think that the opening of an Embassy in the UAE is a big push for Malawi in the area of economics. The promised idea of exporting to Dubai is really important. In the article, the author mentions a quote from Lloyd Mahowe, where he stated that about 1,000 Malawians are living in the UAE. These Malawians are experienced in the tourism industry as Dubai is a very tourist-populated area. Martha Kalanzi, a Malawian woman living in Dubai believes that there are lots of ways that Malawi could develop with the help of Dubai. I agree with her, I think that using tourism as a way to boost their economy is a smart idea, and can be followed by the farming industry for additional growth. Pharmaceutical and agriculture investors are already interested in Malawi, so this could be the start of a big business boom for them.
Relating this to class, you could say that these two countries are coming together to form an economic relationship. This ties into the idea of economic power because Malawi is trying to grow its economy with trade and tourism. There are 2 different types of power: short term and long term. Malawi’s power is going to fall under the long term elements because of their agriculture, which I mentioned earlier. You could also view this situation with national interest in mind. National interest is when a state acts in its own best interest for its gain. In this case, Malawi is acting in its best interest in order to boost tourism in Dubai.