LONDON: Tanzania has called the Omani business community to explore trade and investment opportunities as the country is geared to promote industrialisation through private investments.
Last week, Samia Suluhu Hassan, vice president of Tanzania, told the visiting Omani delegation headed by H E Dr Ali bin Masoud bin Ali al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry, that Tanzania offers ample trade and investment opportunities and an access to a market of more than 150mn people in the East African Community (EAC) region.
Tanzania-samia-suluhu H E Dr Sunaidy particularly mentioned investments in real estate, foodstuff, transport and logistics services and connecting the ports of Duqm, Salalah and Sohar with Dar es Salaam Port as priority areas. He said the high-level Omani delegation reflects the real desire of the two countries to augment the trade relations.
He added that the agreement to develop the Bagamoyo port, signed in 2015, will open wider horizons for cooperation and creating business opportunities for companies of both countries. The Oman business delegation, comprising businessmen and industrialists was in Tanzania on a three-day visit to explore opportunities in trade and industrial cooperation.
Samia urged the Omani visitors to take advantage of the country’s drive to boost industrialisation by tapping into a wide range of areas and also benefit from well balanced and competitive package for fiscal and non-fiscal incentives for large scale investors. “Tanzania has a vibrant market-based economy in which there are unlimited investment and business opportunities, which you are invited to explore,” she was quoted in Daily News, the Tanzanian national newspaper.
Tanzania aims to transform from an agricultural economy to a semi-industrialised nation by 2025. She said investing in Tanzania also guaranteed access to a market of more than 300mn people in eastern and southern Africa in which Tanzania enjoys preferential trading arrangements by virtue of being a member of the South African Development Community and EAC. The vice president added that Tanzania enjoyed a competitive edge over other countries in the region due to its geographical positioning as it is also a gateway to six landlocked countries in eastern and central Africa, providing natural access to Congo, Rwanda, Burundi, Zambia, Malawi and Uganda.
“We in Tanzania believe FDI has an important role to play as we embark on major industrialisation drive to boost growth and development,” she said. Earlier, Charles Mwijage, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, had said the visit by the Omani business delegation was an opportunity for the business community in Oman and Tanzania to strengthen relations through trade and investments.
He said as Tanzania implements its ambitious industrialisation agenda, it was important that trade and investments were expanded. “It is important that we attract private investments to promote our industrialisation agenda, and for investments in industries to prosper, we must expand trade and investments,” he said.
