Africa-Press – Tanzania. DEVELOPMENT partners have reiterated their commitment towards support Tanzania’s development programmes as the government insisted on engaging them more on sectors that positively impact many Tanzanians, including agriculture, livestock and fisheries.
The United Nations (UN) revealed yesterday during the official opening of a two-day strategic dialogue meeting that it has completed formulating a cooperation framework for Tanzania for the next five years.
“We will focus on supporting the five-year national development plan and expand engagement at all levels,” UN resident coordinator Mr Zlitan Milisc said.
Milisic, who was speaking on behalf of other development partners, added that the UN backs up the idea of inclusive dialogue, which is an essential tool for development in Tanzania.
He added that development partners were appreciating the government for involving them in the country’s development plans, and therefore, they were ready to work with President Samia Suluhu Hassan in the development endeavors.
“Discussion is a tool for a thriving partnership as it will unleash areas of engagement where development partners may be engaged at different levels, including technical and sectoral level in line with the government programmes,” the UN official insisted.
With the Covid-19 outbreak affecting economies around the globe, Mr Milisc affirmed development partners’ commitment to supporting Tanzania’s response to the pandemic and its consequences on the country’s economy.
He praised the government for strong performance in investing and realizing long-term sustainable development infrastructure projects.
The government vowed to increase partnership as per the Development Cooperation Framework (DCF), while also pledging to facilitate engagement with a wide range of development stakeholders.
Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Mr Emmanuel Tutuba said as partners, they needed each other.
“We should strive to work together to build mutual responsibility for the future engagement,” he said, noting that the strategic dialogue meeting took place at an opportune time when the Parliament sitting for the 2021/2022 budget continues in the capital city, Dodoma.
Mr Tutuba said the government has sustained macroeconomic stability with focus on policies and reforms to accelerate economic growth, reduce poverty, and improve socioeconomic welfare of the people.
The government, added Tutuba, will focus on attracting both foreign and local investments by improving the business environment through policy, legal and regulatory framework reforms.
According to the Permanent Secretary, the government will prioritize enhancing productivity in sectors which involve a big number of citizens like agriculture, livestock and fisheries.
In the next five years, the government will also emphasize on manufacturing to ensure a reliable market for domestically produced raw materials and also value addition.
Other priorities include development of industrial parks, strengthening domestic revenue mobilization by creating friendly tax collection systems and increasing compliance.
“The government will also keep improving the mining regime; promote tourism; transport infrastructure such as Roads, Railway – SGR, ports and dry ports, air transport and ferries, ICT and Energy infrastructure,” he added.
He said all priorities of the 6th Phase Government are well aligned with the Five-Year Development Plan Phase III, which will be launched in June 2021 with the theme ‘Realizing Competitiveness and Industrialization for Human Development’.
The PS expressed gratitude to the development partners for continuously extending their support to the government, noting that the latter have contributed about 2tri/- in the government budget, an equivalent to 5per cent. “We value their contribution and we will spend it on the agreed priorities,” said Mr Tutuba.
He said development stakeholders’ support has helped bring the government to where it is now and will continue to use donor’s funds for the intended purposes in order to bring envisaged impacts.
