Tobacco.org

Tobacco Dispute With Malawi Definitively Solved 

Malawian Agriculture Minister Aleke Banda has promised that there will be no repetition of the obstacles imposed during the last two years on the processing of Mozambican tobacco in Malawi. Speaking to Mozambican journalists in Blantyre on Saturday, Banda said that the agreement he had signed with his Mozambican counterpart Helder Muteia in Maputo in July solved the problem definitively.

"We have good relations of cooperation with Mozambique", he said. "I was in Maputo and we signed an agreement to regulate cross-border trade, not only in tobacco, but also in other goods. But it was certainly tobacco that created most problems". Banda added it was necessary to bear in mind that both Malawi and Mozambique are tobacco producing countries who do business with international tobacco companies that act according to their own rules. The intention of both countries, he stressed, was to eliminate problems, and this would involve the establishment of national organisations of tobacco producers.

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