Ⅰ Siting Analysis

To most Chinese, Malawi is a remote and unknown country. With 118,584 square kilometers of land, it is located in the hinterlands of southeast Africa. To its east , it is adjacent to Malawi Lake, the third largest lake in Africa; while on the south, west and north, it is bounded by Mozambique, Zambia, and Tanzania respectively. Its scenery is quite beautiful with fantastic mountains and rivers, and its climate is mild with moderate rainfall. More importantly, the people here are very hardworking, simple, warm and hospitable, which wins Malawi the acclaim of the “warmheart of Africa”. Besides this exquisite lake, the nature reserves and wild zoos dotted all over the country, as well as the high Mount Mulanje, are so magnificent that tourists can’t tear themselves away from them.

Mineral resources are abundant in Malawi, with proven reserves of coal, niobium, gems, placer mineral, uranium, rare earth, silica sand and pink granite. At present, it is exploring reserves of oil, gas and bauxite near Lake Malawi. Therefore, the mining industry has good development prospect.

Malawian people are kind-hearted and Malawi has stable political environment without turmoil or violence for many years.

From 2008 to 2013, the average annual rate of economic growth in Malawi is 6%, and the United Nations MDG2014 report has ranked Malawi in the countries of rapid economic development. Malawi's GDP is about $6.5 billion in 2015 with per capita GDP is only $381 (data from the World Bank), and it is one of the least developed countries in the world. Malawi’s economic basis is poor, and commercial and industrial aspects are almost blank, which makes the future development prospect very broad. Malawi is a fertile land waiting for development in Africa, the "Continent of Hope".

Ⅱ China-Africa Situation Analysis

 With the deepening of the "One Belt and One Road", trade and economic cooperation between China and Africa is increasingly frequent. Africa is in the course of rapid urbanization, which is the stage China has just walked through, and the construction of infrastructure becomes the backbone of economic development in Africa.

On December 4, 2015, State President XI Jinping, on China-Africa summit, proposed to promote the China-Africa new strategic partnership to the comprehensive strategic partnership, overall carrying out the economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa. The African local infrastructure level is relatively poor, needing capital and technical support from China. The “One Belt and One Road” opens the door for full cooperation for both countries from the policy level. The establishment of China-Africa Capacity Cooperation Fund, as well as the establishment of financial institutions, such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Silk Road Fund, the BRICS Bank, laid a foundation for "south-south cooperation" between China and Africa.

In January 2016, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi chose Malawi as his first stop of this year’s visit. During his visit, he met with Malawi’s President Mutharika, and Mr. George Sand Punda, the Foreign Minister at that time, and they reached a broad consensus on the further development of bilateral relations. In June 2016, the Chinese Embassy in Malawi, Malawi’s Industry, Trade and Tourism Department, as well as Anhui Province jointly held the first forum on cooperation on production capacity and investment between China and Malawi in Lilongwe, the capital, which attracted over a hundred entrepreneurs from Anhui and three hundred local entrepreneurs. The two sides came to a series of cooperation intentions and agreements, which will inject new vitality into the development of economic and trade relations between the two countries.

Ⅲ Comprehensive Material Trading in Malawi

According to the survey, the current domestic market of Malawi mainly produces tobacco, tea, sugar, cement, timber etc. As for the present situation and trend of the commercial and trade market, the production and sales of building materials, auto parts, decoration and so on are blank, and other business management is relatively fragmented, of a smaller scale, scattered, and lacking in effective market guidance and management.

In addition, the existing backward commercial facilities, poor shopping environment, and low management level cannot satisfy the increasingly mature market consumer demand. The construction of an international comprehensive park has been listed as the national key project by Malawian government, which fills the market blank just in time.