The debates have been organized to encourage youth participation in shaping the development agenda of Malawi and to create a platform for students to continually interact and share knowledge on how they can contribute with innovative approaches to the development of their country.

ECAMA Executive Director, Maleka Thula, said on Tuesday after the debates in Blantyre that the debates have shown that Malawi has young people who are capable to contribute to national sustainable economic development.

Thula expressed pleasure with the way students displayed their knowledge through the debates on how economic activities are going on in the country.

He said there is a need to invest more in skill development towards the youth for them to positively contribute to national development.

“There are a number of good initiatives for the youth but when we look at the number of youth in the country, what we are doing now is not good enough for us to ensure that the youth are being included in whatever policies that are being made.

“Looking at population now, for us to have the youth to contribute, they need to get skills that they can sell out to the industry so that they contribute to our economy in various sectors,” he said.

The Polytechnic beat Chancellor College on Monday while Catholic University booted Blantyre International University out of the tournament on Tuesday.

The winners have joined the Malawi Assemblies of God University from Lilongwe in the semi-finals to be held on 21 November in Lilongwe.

The debates are being held under the theme “Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth.”