Outgoing British High Commissioner to Malawi Richard Wildash, LVO has applauded the strong bilateral relationship existing between Malawi and Britain.  

Wildash said,

“We’re true partners. We work together in the world in our mutual self-interest and in the interests of the wider international community. We know each other well and share the same fundamental vision”.

He cited recent high profile visits in either direction as evidence of the strong partnership between the two countries.

“There have have been a number of Ministerial and other high-level visits in each direction during my tenure of office. I believe that high-level visits serve as springboards to speed up delivery of shared objectives. We hope that it will be possible for His Excellency the State President Dr Bingu wa Mutharika to visit Britain again in the near future”, said Wildash.

Commenting on the recent parliamentary and presidential elections, Wildash  said he was pleased with the role played by Britain and its EU partners in supporting the Malawi Electoral Commission.

“Britain provided £5 million for the trust fund which supported the MEC.  We also ran a programme of projects designed to help ensure that the elections were peaceful; and supported a media-monitoring unit in the MEC whose work was published widely in the press.  

“With our EU and other partners, we also provided moral support to MEC and pursued an intensive dialogue, which enabled exchange of ideas and, we hope, played a worthwhile role in helping MEC deliver the successful elections we saw last month”, he said.

Wildash leaves Malawi on Monday 8 June at the end of his three-year tour of duty.

Notes for Editors

1. Following Wildash’s departure, Wendy Freeman is now the Acting British High Commissioner to Malawi.
2. Richard Wildash was born 24 December 1955. He entered the Diplomatic Service in 1979 and served as follows:

1979 - 81	Third, Secretary, British Embassy, East Berlin, German Democratic Republic
1981 - 84	Third Secretary, British Embassy, Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire
1988 - 92	First Secretary, British High Commission, Harare, Zimbabwe
1994 - 98	First Secretary, British High Commission, New Delhi, India
1998 - 02	Deputy High Commissioner, British High Commission, Kuala Lampur, Malaysia
2002 - 06	British High Commissioner to Cameroon (and concurrently non - Resident Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea, Chad, Gabon and the Central African Republic)
March 2006 – June 2009	British High Commissioner, Lilongwe, Malawi

Other appointments:

• Elected Chairman of the International Natural Rubber Council in October 2000 (held office until the Council’s dissolution in 2002)
• In 1997, he was appointed Lieutenant of the Royal Victorian Order

Education:

• Corpus Christi College, Cambridge – 1974 –1977 (MA in Modern and Medieval Languages); St Paul’s School, Barnes, London; Durston House Preparatory School, Ealing, London

Professional associations:

• Member of the Chartered Institute of Linguists
• Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society

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