omenal, as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, I would like, on behalf of all members, to extend a very warm welcome to you and to your First Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation and the High Commissioner on your first official visit to the Scottish Parliament. I know that you have had an extremely busy programme, not least your participation in the recent Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in London, so I am particularly pleased that you have chosen to follow in the footsteps of your predecessors by addressing us here in our debating chamber, and we look forward to hearing from you very shortly. Although you have visited here today, Mr President, is the fourth by a sitting Malawi and head of state since this Parliament was established in 1999, not all of your predecessors have had the opportunity, as you have had this afternoon, to observe some of our parliamentary proceedings. Ieith datblygu chyfnodwch ar gyfer reversechiaid y First Ministergymran y fawr o'r aethau o ansiaddfa bobl i'i ddysgu'r ymddangos iawn. Felly, jeddwch i'r cynyddiad sy'n gynghwledig oed methu fflaenuityr y fawr o'r tuith! Rwy'n credu bod ymweld chi'n amlwg dda i, mae'r Cyfrifolwyr a Llewodraeth, rydych chi'n gweithio r�au rhywbeth sy'n brydau i ddechrau bod oedd yma yna, yn yr ysbodaeth dr David Livingstone ystod o'r ffwyr o'r llwyrs o Lake Malloway. If we fast forward 150-plus years from Dr Livingstone's first tentative steps there, there is not a community, a school, a constituency or a parish in Scotland today, but there is not enjoy a special bond of friendship or a connection, whether that be economic, social, academic or spiritual with your country. If I may say not a bad legacy from a former cotton mill worker from Blantyre, to that list of connections, may I add Mr President this very Parliament. We are proud of Scotland's historical ties with Malloway and are pleased that our relationship with your national assembly is based on friendship, mutual respect and trust. This has ensured that the partnership between our two legislatures is one of the strongest and longest running in our relatively short history. Since 2005, members and officials of the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly of Malloway have paid numerous reciprocal visits under the auspices of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association. As a progressive forward-looking Parliament with an international outlook, we have benefited greatly from working with our Malloway counterparts. While some of the challenges that we face may differ, we both share a common desire to improve the governance of our nations, its laws, its economic performance and, through those areas, the lives of our citizens. Mr President, I know from speaking to many of my parliamentary colleagues that the long-standing relationship between the Scottish Parliament and the National Assembly is highly valued and that the friendships and professional relationships forged since 2005 mean that Malloway remain a focus of our activity in sub-Saharan Africa for many years to come. In that spirit of friendship, I want to see how delighted I am to welcome you here, Mr President, and I now invite you to address this meeting of members of the Scottish Parliament. Friends, people of Scotland and Malloway, wherever you are, I come to Scotland to separate with you the journey of friendship we have worked for 159 years. This avoid friendship began when David Lindstone arrived in Ysland in 1859. David Lindstone named one of our cities Blangai. When he got independence in 1964, we changed the name of Ysland to Malloway. We changed all the colonial names of roads, places, towns and everything, but we never changed Blangai. That tells you how we have been connected and friendly to Scotland. David Lindstone has a great place in our heart and a greater place in human history. When God gave the children of Israel their lives for the world that came to Europe, it was Livingstone who carried that light and brought Christianity to a part of the world. Since then, Christianity has played a critical role in creating a value system that we share and found in our societies. In fact, I am myself a product of the Church of Scotland, but gave me my education, my early education. My father was a teacher and elder of Church of Scotland Mission Schools. My mother was one of the women of the guild of the Church of Scotland. We share a past and we share values. And we say in the wisdom of people, those who walk the compass, is they share a common destination. Now, between us, we are founding the Malloway Scotland partnership. This partnership is founded on mutual respect, which is rare and precious. Given the North South relations in our world order today, the mutual respect for our cultures is everywhere. I've seen Scottish people dressed in Malloway time here in Scotland. I've even seen humane in people like Colin and Iceland Cameron, who speak my language and call themselves Malawians. I've seen Scottish people celebrate the spread of Malawian culture. They know greater humility than to assume under-person culture out of free will. We have seen Scottish people in Malawi villages, living our lives to support our people. We have seen them working with our teachers and feeding the Malawi school children. We have seen them working in farming, in water, in climate change and economic development. We have seen Scottish professionals train healthcare providers in mental health problems. When the mentally ill are feared and scimatised, Scottish professionals have found a cause. We have seen our surgeons, scholars and civil society organisations doing great work in Malawi. We have seen much more than I can tell. I must apply that nearly half the population of this country can tell you about a personal friend or family member with a connection to Malawi. This is what it means to have a people-to-people partnership. The Malawian Scotland partnership has become one of the strongest North South's relationships in the world. Cyculationships are rare and precious in a world where public sculling developed countries like exploiting and manipulating poor countries in the name of supporting them. At the government level, our bilateral relations are very inclined. Scotland has been our voice. You spoke for us when we needed a presumption and you speak for us to end the exploitation of double taxation. You spoke for us when flies swept in Malawi, when drought felled or croaked, when our people suffered from hunger. You support us. Count on Malawi. You'll always speak for you on the African table. Write on our members. Let me not speak about Malawi. Let me speak about Malawi. Here in the Western world, we may know the Malawi that we need to read about. You may know the Malawi created in the perceptions of those who speak and write about us. But the real Malawi out there is a country that is making progress in many areas. Malawi is a country where African democracy works. It's a country where freedom of speech, freedom of the press and liberal conscious thrives. There has not been a single prison of conscious in prison since I became head of state four years ago. We are now being denied because you don't solve a problem by tonight. But the time you're fighting problems like corruption in Malawi are three, four. First, there came a point when corruption would become a country in Malawi. Being accepted are the normal way of doing things. I came at the time when this country was growing. This country was symbolised by infamous casket, the worst plunder of an African country in history. When you fight a country, it is on people that you fight. And it takes a process, progress a country, how is the demand conclusive, solutions now or never. The second challenge is that when you fight corruption, corruption finds back. You find people who have stolen money now to spawn for a war against you. In our case, the most vicious PR machine I was released to make my government look like more corrupt than the most corrupt of them all. The third challenge is police association of corruption. The world government accepts the presence of the problem. Many institutions including the church, the media and the opposition are in denial. Some people believe that corruption is for politicians, government officials only. They are wrong. They believe they are not part of the problem. The position makes the political agenda for fighting the government. They exaggerate and erase stories in the social media which are completely false. But for us to fight corruption, we must fight collectively. We are making progress in the world gas reports and Malawi is now on the full impressive performance in sub-Saharan Africa in the fight against corruption. Malawi is a country that the fight against corruption now works. Malawi is a country where economic management works. Four years ago, Malawi was a broken economy falling apart after the devastation of Cairo. The economy was on the brink of collapse and the country on the verge of bankrupts. In fact, we had a deficit that almost equaled our annual national budget. Four years ago, inflation was from 4%. We have brought down inflation down to 7.8%. Four years ago, interest rates were at 25%. Today, interest rates are at 16%. Four years ago, our foreign currency import cover was below two months, the lowest in history. Today, our import cover is six months, the highest in the history of Malawi. Not long ago, GDP growth rate was 2.4%. And today, it is about 6%. Four years ago, our low currency was water and unpredictable. Today, low currency is stable and predictable. We have achieved macroeconomic stability and the economy is beginning to grow. Contrary to the high perception of Malawi, well-proved. But if it takes some economic money to turn on the economy in spite of crisis and the absence of donor support, no other African country ever did in three years what Malawi has done. One of the members of this house, this is our story. Three years ago, with a double tragedy of natural floods and drought in one year, our crops fell and there was hunger throughout the country. Years ago, when other drought and crops fell again, there was national hunger. Throughout this time, Malawi had no bike to support from any donor. We are achieving economic recovery without donor budget support through crisis of national disasters. This story should give you the Scottish people and the world every confidence that Malawi is a country you can trust. Right, one of our members. Malawi and Scotland have not signed the Malawi-Scotland Growth Partnership Agreement. Together, we are now close to our goals and conquer our targets within the consensus of the global community. In Malawi, we are determined to make Malawi a producing and exporting country. That is our vision. We are determined to allow from age to trade and achieve economic autonomy. Therefore, we have lined up a number of programs driving Malawi to prosperity. The first is the Greenbelt Initiative. We are diversifying, commercializing, and expanding our treasure productivity. We are set to use irrigation, steppe value addition, bring about food security, and make agriculture the driver of our industrialization. Our second project is growing direct investment. We are inviting investors from all corners of the world, including Scotland. We want to have a smaller government and a bigger private sector that drives the economy and provides jobs for all Malawians. Our third program is skills-development. We are creating a skilled labour force because no society can develop without a skilled labour force. Therefore, we are building technical community colleges across the country. There is a will of investing in youth, creating jobs, and creating a skilled labour force for our direct investors. Our fourth program is infrastructure development. We are building new roads, expanding airports, reviving the rail system, taking electricity to rural people, and bringing faster internet to every community. Right now, one of our members was setting foundation and indeed setting the stage for phenomenal economic growth in Malawi. We invite Scotland to continue to be part of Malawi's transformation. Scotland has been a true and trusted friend to the people of Malawi. We look forward to a deeper friendship. Let the world learn from our friendship. Time has come for the ways to define Africa as a mutual partner. Times come for the ways to accept, but with our resources, Africa also contributes to the economies of the west. We both achieve more by working together as mutual partners. Long live our friendship. May God bless Malawi and may God bless Scotland. I thank you for your attention. Thank you. Zicomo, Mr President. I now call on the First Minister to respond on behalf of the Scottish Government. Your Excellency, President Matarica, Foreign Minister, High Commissioner, Presiding Officer, it is an honour to welcome you here to our national parliament today. You have, as the Presiding Officer indicated, just had the pleasure, if that is the right word, of watching First Minister's questions. You might have noticed that the parties in the chamber do not always agree with each other, but we are and we always have been absolutely united in recognising the value and the importance of the friendship between Scotland and Malawi. As you have so eloquently set out today, the ties between our nations are unique and they are very special. They go back more than 150 years to the expeditions of David Livingstone and the early missions of the Church of Scotland. That, indeed, is why the First Overseas Head of State, to address this Parliament, was your predecessor, President Dr Melusi, in the year 2000. The first to speak in this chamber in 2005 was your late brother, the then President Matarica. When he spoke on that day, he was marking the first partnership agreement between Scotland and Malawi. He signed it alongside one of my predecessors, Jack now Lord McConnell, whose contribution I want to acknowledge and pay tribute to today. At the signing itself, the president described the 2005 agreement as setting a new pattern in global relations because it twinned a country in the north with a partner in the south. It is also marked to a truly remarkable degree not simply by agreement between our Governments but by co-operation amongst our people. The Scotland-Malawi partnership includes universities, colleges, schools, faith groups, businesses, charities, social enterprises and many, many other organisations. Indeed, as you have mentioned, almost 100,000 people in Scotland are directly involved in the partnership, just as are almost 200,000 people in Malawi. Together, we have achieved some extraordinary results. More than 10,000 women have been screened for cervical cancer. More than 100,000 people in southern Malawi received emergency treatment for meningitis. We have helped to quadruple the annual number of medical graduates in Malawi. Hundreds of women teachers have been trained and new national educational standards have been implemented. In addition, representatives from Police Scotland provide advice and support to their counterparts in Malawi on tackling violence against women. Programmes that are supported by Scotland have brought renewable energy to more than 80,000 people in rural Malawi. Our partnership has helped to change lives and transform communities. As everybody in this chamber and across Scotland recognises, those partnerships do not just benefit Malawi, they benefit Scotland as well. We gain a great deal from new perspectives and new ideas. Scottish schoolchildren, when they learn about Malawi, become better global citizens as a result. In practical terms, many of our joint projects, such as sharing health data, will help both of our nations. As Malawi's economy develops, we are both determined that our relationship will be characterised by mutually beneficial trade and investment. I know that you have been heartened by the outcomes of your discussions on that during the past week here in Scotland. Of course, for all those reasons and for many more, on Monday, you and I signed a new global goals partnership agreement. That new agreement reflects our shared commitment to the United Nations sustainable development goals. Your Excellency, when you were inaugurated as president, you pledged that Malawi will strive to be a friend to everyone in the global community. Scotland, similarly, strives to be a good global citizen. For both of us, our new global goals partnership is an important way of achieving those ambitions that we share. Of course, in renewing the agreement between our countries, we also reaffirm the enduring values that lie behind it. We recognise that they are fittingly ones that also drove David Livingstone over 150 years ago, values of passionate internationalism, a commitment to education and healthcare, and perhaps most of all, a fundamental belief in the rights and the equality of all people. Your Excellency, it is an honour and a real pleasure for this Parliament to host you and your delegation today to do so as we reflect on our historic ties, as we recognise what we have achieved together in recent years, and, more than that, as we look forward with ambition, imagination and confidence to many more years of partnership and friendship between our two nations, Scotland and Malawi. I invite members and our guests to join us in 15 minutes in the member's room for a reception, an opportunity to meet with the president, and on that I close this meeting of members of Parliament.