ESAMI’s Trade Policy Training Centre in Africa (ESAMI-trapca), in partnership with the Ministry of Industry, Business, Trade & Tourism, concluded a pre-validation training workshop in Lilongwe on Malawi’s emerging national e-commerce and digital trade frameworks. The initiative was supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB) through the Ministry of Finance under the Digital Financial Inclusion and Connectivity (DFIC) Project. A complementary regional session was held in Blantyre on 3 December.
The training marked a significant step in Malawi’s ongoing digital transformation efforts. Over the past several months, the Government of Malawi has undertaken a Digital Trade and E-Commerce Gap Analysis to assess the strength and coherence of existing policies, legislation, regulations, and institutional mandates. The analysis reveals that the current framework for e-commerce is fragmented across sectors, resulting in weak coordination, uneven enforcement, and challenges in implementing emerging regional and international obligations.
The pre-validation workshops were designed to prepare stakeholders to review and refine the Gap Analysis Report before it undergoes formal validation. Participants from public institutions, regulatory bodies, private sector actors and development partners were exposed to key components of a functional digital trade ecosystem, including digital economy foundations, digital taxation and customs, logistics and last-mile delivery, ICT infrastructure and cybersecurity, and policy and regulatory alignment with AfCFTA, EAC, SADC and WTO frameworks.
A central focus of the workshops was enhancing understanding of how digital trade systems operate, why infrastructure and interoperability matter, and how legal certainty builds trust among consumers, investors and innovators. By strengthening knowledge across the institutions responsible for designing and implementing reforms, the workshop aimed to support a more coherent, harmonized and forward-looking national approach to digital trade.
The outcomes of the Lilongwe and Blantyre sessions will inform the subsequent validation process, during which stakeholders will agree on strategic recommendations to guide the development of Malawi’s national e-commerce policy, legal framework and implementation roadmap. These reforms are expected to contribute to a more predictable, inclusive and competitive digital business environment, ultimately positioning Malawi to benefit from the growing opportunities of the continental digital market.
The pre-validation training represents a committed effort by Malawi and ESAMI-trapca to align institutional capacity with national policy needs and to prepare for the domestication and operationalisation of digital trade protocols and standards. As Malawi advances toward a coordinated digital trade governance system, the foundations laid through this exercise will support greater participation in regional e-commerce, improved trade facilitation, more secure online transactions and enhanced confidence in digital platforms.
