Chinese embassy in Malawi donates sewing machines

LILONGWE, April 6 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese Embassy in Malawi on Wednesday donated 60 modern electric sewing machines to Malawi's Ministry of Labor to boost the local tailoring industry.

Speaking during the handover ceremony, Chinese Ambassador to Malawi Liu Hongyang said the machines will help promote vocational skills among the youth in the five modern community technical colleges that the Chinese government helped construct in the country and handed over to the Malawian government in February.

The ambassador noted that the donation will complement the Malawian government's recent resolution to stop importing uniforms for employees in sectors such as Malawi Police Service, Malawi Defence Force, Malawi Prison Services and the health sector.

Malawi's Minister of Labor Vera Kamtukule thanked the Chinese Embassy for the donation, saying it will fill the existing gap in terms of equipment in the country's community technical colleges.

She said there are still more gaps in other faculties of the community technical colleges that need filling.

"The students who graduated have the skills but they are not able to use them because they don't have equipment, so this donation is timely," said the minister.

She said other areas that need support in terms of equipment in the technical colleges include plumbing and carpentry.

The Chinese ambassador, who is winding up his term of office in Malawi, said that the Chinese government is ready to make more donations to the Malawian government to contribute to Malawi's 2063 Agenda.

Since 2008, the Chinese government has supported Malawi through a number of donations, grants and concessional loans for infrastructural development in the areas of health, agriculture, energy, transport and sport, among others.