By Brenda Nkosi
Dubai, October 30, Mana: President Lazarus Chakwera on Saturday left Dubai, United Arab Emirates for Glasgow in Scotland where he is expected to attend the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) taking place from the 31 October to 12 November 2021.
The President was in Dubai to attend the Fifth Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Community (G-STIC) conference.
In an interview at Grand Hyatt Hotel, Chakwera described his participation at the D-STIC as fruitful and inspiring to Malawi.
“Attending the G-STIC conference has been a great success because there were many topics covered on the importance of technology and innovation in attaining Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),” he said.
The President said most of the times people look for technologies and innovations that are sophisticated when even simplest ones are needed.
“We need to see what type of technology fits us and what type of innovation our young people are coming up with that addresses our particular needs. These too has been emphasized,” said Chakwera.
He said the sustainable development goals and COP26 are intertwined as both are meant to find solutions to the problem of climate change.
“Without innovation and technology, it is going to be very difficult for mitigation as well as adaptation in terms of facing the future and how we can sustain life on this planet that has been plundered,” said he.
Chakwera also said it is very was important for Malawi to seriously consider technology development in all sectors.
“It’s important for us, as we seek to build better and stronger after covid-19, that we must seriously consider technology and how it relates to still wanting to industrialize, having agriculture commercialized, creating more jobs and have inclusive worth with modern technology so that in the process our environment is not destroyed but preserved,” he said.
Minister of Information, Gospel Kazako said in a separate interview that Malawi adopted the SDG’s and cannot talk about meeting the targets without technology.
“We cannot deal with the problems of the environment and issues of climate change without looking at SDG’s very well, without marrying those SDG’s to technology,” he said.
He therefore said the G-STIC conference has given an opportunity for Malawi to fully understand of what is happening around globe.
“Malawi is part of the global nature and it has to move with the rest of the world when it comes to technology,” said Kazako.
He said it was a very good arrangement that President Chakwera started t with a conference on technology before participating the COP26 conference which countries will discuss of climate change issues.
COP26 brings together parties to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
It was the first time for the G-STIC conference which runs from October 24 to October 272021 to take place outside Brussels (Belgium).
The G-STIC conference theme focused on breakthrough innovations for nine societal challenges: climate, water, energy, health, oceans, education, circular economy, ICT and youth.