State President Professor Arthur Peter Mutharika has applauded Toyota Malawi for its contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. The president made the remarks Friday, in Lilongwe when he attended golden jubilee celebrations for Toyota Malawi, a motor vehicle dealer which established its operations in 1964. The president said apart from the various vehicle models and value adding services provided by Toyota Malawi, the company has demonstrated to be a good corporate citizen by contributing to the social challenges Malawi faces in form of corporate social responsibility. “Your generous contributions, especially to the health sector, have helped in saving lives of many Malawians. It is my sincere hope that Toyota Malawi will continue to be a partner in alleviating Malawi’s health challenges,” said President Mutharika. He said the transport sector is very important for the development of any economy and Malawi is no exception. “My Government holds in esteem the contribution of the transport sector to the economy. It is against this background that the transport sector became one of the four priority sectors together with agriculture, energy and manufacturing that my Government believes can quickly spur rapid economic growth. As a demonstration of commitment to the transport sector, my Government has removed import duty, import excise and VAT on all minibuses that are zero to five years,” he added. “My Government is very thankful to the support and contributions of the people and Government of Japan, towards the development of the transport infrastructure in Malawi,” Prof. Mutharika said. Among other developments, the Japanese Government funded the design and construction of the dual carriage Masauko Chipembere Highway in Blantyre. It has also committed to fund and construct the remaining part of the Masauko Chipembere Highway that passes through Limbe township, within the 2014/15 fiscal year. Over the past 50 years, Toyota Malawi has contributed in many ways to the development of Malawi’s transport sector by providing safe, quality and reliable vehicle models suitable to our transport infrastructure. “I am sure that Toyota Malawi will continue in providing innovative mobility products and services to the Malawi nation to help in efficient service delivery for both government and private sector operations,” mused the Malawi leader. The president also reassured government’s commitment to supporting Toyota Malawi and all foreign investors in the country as their investments go a long way in contributing to the economic development of the nation in form of taxes, job creation and foreign exchange generation. “I am pleased to be informed that Toyota Malawi has already embarked on projects that will transform the company from a net importer to an exporter of local agricultural products. These efforts will definitely contribute towards the generation of the much needed foreign exchange for Malawi and offset the import forex requirement of Toyota Malawi.” “Therefore, let me call upon the shareholders of Toyota Malawi to intensify their efforts of diversifying the company to a more export orientation in order to contribute to my Government efforts in transforming Malawi from a net importing nation to a net producing and exporting nation. As part of celebrating its 50 years of existence, Toyota Malawi has donated a state-of-the-art ambulance to the Safe Motherhood Initiative to support the cause of making reproductive health as healthy as possible.
Posted on: Fri, 31 Oct 2014 15:36:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015