Hastings BandaMr. Life President, Your Excellencies, Ministers, Ladies and Gentlemen. It is a very great honour to be the first British Prime Minister to visit Malawi, and I thank you for this marvellous welcome to the warm heart of Africa.
This year Malawi celebrates twenty-five years of independence under your leadership. [end p1]
But there is more than just the anniversary to celebrate. The peace and stability which Malawi has enjoyed for so long is the envy of very many.
My programme gives me the chance to see the achievements of those twenty-five years and to renew Britain's support for all that you are doing to create a better life for your [end p2] people.
Mr. Life President, you have very many friends in Britain and we were delighted when you came on your State Visit two years ago. It was an occasion we all remember.
I am very pleased to have this chance to meet you again, and to benefit from your great wisdom and experience. [end p3]
We shall be discussing both your plans for the future of Malawi and how Britain can help, as well as some of the wider regional problems—and may I say how very much we all admire the tremendous generosity being shown by your government and the people of Malawi towards the refugees from Mozambique.
We are seeing many great changes in the world [end p4] at present, more perhaps than ever before even in your lifetime, Mr. Life President.
I am hopeful that this new spirit of change, of determination to end old conflicts and to solve problems which have been with us for many years, will be felt also here in Southern Africa. One purpose of my visit is to see how [end p5] Britain can contribute to that.
Mr. Life President I thank you again for inviting me. I am looking forward tremendously to my visit.