Africa-Press – Tanzania. FRANCE has acknowledged the efforts being taken by Tanzanian government to improve business and investment environment as well as promoting gender equality.
Making the revelation, while meeting Vice-President Dr Phillip Mpango at State House in Dar es Salaam on Tuesday, French Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, Mr Franck Riester, further promised to continue working together with Tanzania for the greater interest of both countries.
During their talks, Mr Riester also delivered a special invitation of President Emmanuel Macron to President Samia Suluhu Hassan to pay an official visit to their country. Elaborating, he noted that France recognizes the efforts being taken by the Tanzanian government, including improving business and investment environment as well as gender equality as similar areas given first priority in his country.
“France is committed to enhance its cooperation with Tanzania for the greater interest of the two countries and that is why we have resumed a direct flight from Paris to Zanzibar that had stopped in the past 47 years,” he said.
On his part, the Vice-President Dr Mpango invited the French investors into the country to tap abundant resources such as vast fertile land and natural resources.
“Tanzania is quite unique in terms of the available resources for the economic gain of both countries,” he pointed out, while assuring that Tanzania has a good environment for business and investment. Expounding further, Dr Mpango said Tanzania has continued taking a number of initiatives in battling Covid-19 pandemic. “In doing so, the government brought vaccines for Covid-19 as part of efforts to address further spread…this global pandemic has affected several economies,” he said.
Dr Mpango further said that for many years, France has been one of the potential development partners of Tanzania in different fields, citing them as infrastructure, education and water.
Being specific, he invited French businessmen to invest in the health sector particularly pharmaceutical industries, tourism and energy. In his entourage, the French Minister was accompanied by different business community members, who showed interest in investing in Tanzania.
The talk was also presided over by some ministers from Tanzania Mainland as Zanzibar as well as officials from the French Embassy to Tanzania, including Ambassador Nabil Hajlaoui. The ministers included Liberata Mulamula (Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation), Prof Kitila Mkumbo (Industry and Trade) Geoffrey Mwambe (Prime Minister’s Office-Investment) and January Makamba (Energy).
Others were Zanzibar’s Minister of State President’s Office Economy and Investment Mudrik Ramadhani Soraga and Tanzania Ambassador to France Samwel Shelukindo. In 2020, the total amount of trade between France and Tanzania was recorded at 150 million US Dollars, where over 90 per cent of French exports based on four major sectors such as mechanical equipment, electrical, electronic and Information Technology equipment got involved.
Early July this year, Dr Mpango held talks with French Business Confederation in Paris and invited investors from the country to come and invest in Tanzania, citing potential sectors as construction, infrastructures, agriculture, education, health and tourism.
In his speech, he informed the investors that the sixth phase government under President Samia Suluhu Hassan is taking various steps to improve investment climate and participation of the private sector in the country’s economy.
Equally, he mentioned the measures as constructing modern infrastructure such as Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to ease transport, and Julius Nyerere Hydroelectric Power Project (JNHPP) to boost power source as well as water projects.
