Africa-Press – Tanzania. PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday invited investors from across the world to invest in various areas in the country, in particular the agriculture sector, saying the country has plenty of land suitable for agriculture.
The Head of State was speaking during her meeting with the chairman of Wilmar International Company from Singapore, Mr Kuok Khoon Hong, where she said Tanzania is ready to cooperate with both local and foreign investors and that it has already set good environment for boosting the sector.
On his side, Mr Hong assured the President that his company is ready to expand investment in rice production and cooking oil producing crops.
He said his company has so far invested 150m US dollar (347,7bn/-) in pasta, cooking oil processing and soap production industries, adding that the fund is part of 1bn US dollar (2.3tri/-) investment in Africa. He said that the company has completed construction of a rice processing and packing factory in Morogoro region.
Mr Hong said Tanzania produces high quality rice which is marketable across the World. He added that Tanzania also needs cooking oil. He said the factory has a capacity to process 1,000tonnes of rice per day and is expected to employ 300 Tanzanians.
President Samia encouraged Mr Hong to expand investment in agriculture sector, especially in cooking oil production. She invited the company to invest in processing sunflower and palm oil as well as in irrigation farming.
The Head of State said the government is ready to cooperate with the company in setting up the investment and ordered the Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Finance and Planning to come up with a joint plan that will enable joint investment between the government and Wilmar International Company.
President Samia said Tanzania and the Singapore based company could cooperate in improving agriculture technology, seeds and capital for expanding the agriculture sector in the country.
In attendance at the State House were the Minister for Agriculture, Prof Adolf Mkenda, Tanzanian Ambassador to Malaysia, Dr Ramadhan Dau, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Mr Emmanuel Tutuba and Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) Commissioner General, Mr Alphayo Kidata.
Early this month, President Samia held a consultative meeting with leaders of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), in her continued efforts to strengthen the sector and foster economic development.
During the meeting which was held at the State House in Dar es Salaam, it demonstrated President Samia’s determination to support the private sector’s growth, attract more investments and expand the tax base.
During the session, the Head of State commended TPSF for the vision of increasing investments in the country. She assured the sector of the government’s commitment to address challenges in investment and business sector for the sake of building a stable and sustainable economy.
For her part, TPSF Chairperson, Ms Angelina commended the President on her government’s ongoing efforts to improve the business environment and enhance the government – private sector relationship.
In April this year, President Samia ordered sweeping reforms in the investment sector as part of her government’s grand plan to restore investors’ trust in the country. She said it was crucial for the country through the Investment Ministry to ensure Tanzania regains investors’ trust by improving the climate that forces some of them to shift their business to other countries.
President Samia called on Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) to come up with a One Stop Centre to coordinate investors’ needs under one roof.
