Visit by Dr Bingu wa Mutharika, President of the Republic of Malawi, 3 November 2005
Welcome speech by the Presiding Officer George Reid
Dr Bingu wa Mutharika and George Reid |
Your Excellency, fellow parliamentarians, ladies and gentlemen:
It is with great pleasure that we welcome you, Sir, as President of Malawi, into our Chamber.
Welcome to Holyrood. Welcome to the new Scottish Parliament.
In Gaelic: Fàilte gu Taigh an Ròid agus fàilte gu Pàrlamaid ùr na h-Alba.
And in Chichewa: Takulandirani kuno ku Scottish Parliament.
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The people of Malawi and Scotland, Mr President, go back a very long time together.
Over 150 years we have shared history, culture, education, and, of course, faith.
We are both small countries trying to make our way in a great big world. When British Ministers considered subsuming Malawi into a larger political entity, Scots voices spoke strongly for the continuing independence of your country.
All those who have followed in the footsteps of David Livingstone - the Scots doctors, engineers, missionaries, teachers, nurses, politicians like myself and others in this Chamber - none of us can go there without retaining a bit of Malawi deep in our hearts.
I certainly do, since I was engaged for a number of years with the International Red Cross in helping feed more than one million Mozambican refugees in the south of your country during the Renamo insurgency.
People who had little or nothing freely took others in.
The women of Malawi - and women are always the key to sustainable development in Africa - the women of Malawi were remarkable. We here in Scotland can certainly learn from that.
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In February of this G8 Year and the Gleneagles summit, a year in which hundreds of thousands of Scots pledged to help end poverty in Africa, a cross party delegation of MSPs visited your country.
They did not sit in Lilongwe in air-conditioned suites. They got out, up and down the country, through the dirt roads, meeting the people, listening to them, and bringing back to this Chamber a very vibrant testimony.
In May our First Minister Jack McConnell did the same, meeting your people in one-to-one relationships, sharing their hopes and fears… and expectations.
And since then Mr President, in this Parliament, in conjunction with the Commission for Africa, Members of the Scots and Malawian Parliaments, and representatives of civic society both here and in your country, since then we have all been engaged in a whole series of events designed to raise awareness and understanding of the challenges facing Africa.
In this process of partnership, we must learn from, and respect, each other’s cultures.
And now the partnership goes further.
This morning, Mr President, you signed a co-operation agreement with our First Minister which builds on the historical links between our two countries, in areas such as health, education and economic development.
We will hear more about that in the coming days when we meet here tomorrow and on Saturday to discuss themes set out in the Commission for Africa Report in regard to Malawi.
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Finally Mr President, the first foreign Head of State ever to address a Meeting of Members of the Scottish Parliament was your predecessor, President Dr Bakili Muluzi, in May 2000.
Today we have another first. You have the honour of being the first foreign Head of State to address Members here in the Chamber of our new Scottish Parliament building.
It therefore gives me great pleasure your Excellency, to invite you now to address the Scottish Parliament.
Ends.
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For further information, the media contact is :
Sally Coyne: 0131 348 6265
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email: sally.coyne@scottish.parliament.uk
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