Reported by
Faridah N Kulumba
Tanzanian government headed by the newly sworn in President Samia Suluhu Hassan, has started implementation of economic diplomacy to strengthen trade and investment with Nigeria.
This was revealed by the Tanzania High Commissioner to Nigeria, Dr Benson Alfred Bana, at the opening of the Tanzania-Nigeria Tourism Investment and Trade (TN-TIT) forum in Abuja Nigeria.
The TN-TIT forum is an initiative of the Tanzanian High Commission to create an avenue for Nigerians to employ to deliver on the objectives of Tanzania’s set out economic Diplomatic policies.
Mr Bana pledged his government’s commitment to boost the volume of trade with Nigeria to promote intra-Africa trade.
“Basically our bilateral cooperation is flexible in terms of volume of trade, so we are struggling to increase the balance of trade and also promote more Tanzanian products in Nigerian market,” said Mr Bana.
He added that the forum is expected to deepen the Tanzania-Nigeriabilateral relations which dates back to the early 1960s and to promote economic cooperation between the two sister countries in the areas of tourism, investment, trade, and development financing.
Tanzania-Nigeria bilateral relations
Tanzania and Nigeria have enjoyed cordial diplomatic relations since the two nations got independence in 1961 and 1960 respectively. Nigeria High Commission was opened in Tanzania in 1962 while Tanzania High Commission in Nigeria was established in 1971.
The bilateral relations between the two countries are hinged upon shared vision, mission and values in the international arena. Both countries played significant roles in the colonisation of the African continent.
At a multilateral level, the High Commission has diplomatic duties to two entities namely the Economic Community West African State (ECOWAS) and the African Development Bank (AFDB).
Implementation plan
Tanzania’s High Commissioner to Nigeria Dr Bana while addressing the press revealed how they are planning to bolster the Trade Investment relations with Nigeria saying that they will do it by entering the digital age, the 21st century of science and technology.
“So we are thinking especially of youths to start interacting to do big business bilaterally,” Bana said.
“We are talking of digital economy, it is our desire to make sure that the relationship between the two countries translates into deliverables and that such deliverables are tangible.
President Hassan promises a conducive environment
The VON reported that Tanzanian Minister of Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation, Ambassador Liberata Mulamula while speaking virtually, said that president Samia Suluhu Hassan promised to ensure a peaceful and conducive environment for foreign trade and investment.
“It offers the right range of investment incentives just like other several investment destinations in the world, And in some aspects it is even more generous and attractive. Investors who wish to set up their business in Tanzania are facilitated in key issues relating to company registration, immigration, labour, land,business licence and tax,” Mulamula said.
The General Manager of the Sahara Group of Companies, Mr Alex Cole, also assured that Tanzania is a very conducive environment for business due to its open market structure.
Covid-19 challenges
According to a Government of Tanzania study on the impacts of COVID-19 on the tourism sector, without the pandemic, the 2020 season would have attracted approximately 1.9 million tourists and generated US$2.9 billion of forex. Without the pandemic, it was expected that the government would have collected revenue of TZS 2.7 trillion (US$1.16 billion), and the sector would have provided direct employment to 622,000 people.
