Africa-Press – Tanzania. CANADIAN High Commissioner to Tanzania, Pamela O’Donnell on Thursday said her country is optimistic to ensure both political and social-economic relations are strengthened between the two countries.
She said Tanzania and Canada have been partners for a long time, and that Canada looks forward to continuing cementing the ties.
The High Commissioner was speaking to the ‘Daily News’ during an exclusive interview regarding the relationship between the two nations. She said in 2018/19, Canada provided 132.78m US dollars to Tanzania for executing various projects.
She said her country has been working closely with trusted non-governmental organizations and other partners for supporting a number of Tanzanians, especially women and girls.
“Our relationship started many years back, Canada and Tanzania cooperated in various areas, including education. A number of teachers from Canada came to teach here in Tanzania and a total of 160 students went to study in Canada. This cemented our relationship from the early days of this country’s independence,” she said.
She further said that in the early 70s, Canadian programming covered the capital costs, provided the equipment and managed the technical assistance and training to upgrade Dar es Salaam’s urban water supply from a small station built by the Germans during colonial times.
On top of that, the High Commissioner said that in 1961, Professor Cranford Pratt from Canada was appointed the first principal of the newly founded University College of Dar es Salaam in Tanganyika. She said that Professor Pratt worked with national leaders, public servants and administrators to raise funds to expand the university where he served as principal until 1964.
“When Professor Pratt was unable to attend the University of Dar es Salaam’s 50th anniversary celebration in 2011, officials from the University of Dar es Salaam visited the University of Toronto, where they paid tribute to him and announced that they were naming a campus building in his honour, the Cranford Pratt Building,” she noted.
