The Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) has registered 630 projects worth 3.68 billion US dollars equivalent to over 8.6tri/- being implemented by Indian based companies, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa has said.
Mr Majaliwa attributed the success to various major reforms undertaken by the government to improve investment environment in the country, calling upon more investors from India to come to Tanzania enmasse.
The Premier disclosed this when he met and held talks with a delegation from the Parliament of India famously known as Lok Sabha, which was led by the Speaker Om Birla in Dodoma, yesterday.
Representing President Samia Suluhu Hassan, he said: “Tanzania and India hold a strong cooperation in the areas of trade and economy, with India occupying the third spot in terms of trade cooperation standing at 4.58 billion between 2021 and 2022…the balance of trade is relatively the same, benefiting both countries.”
In his speech, he assured Speaker Birla of Tanzania’s commitment to further strengthen their existing cooperation which has come a long way, expressing a lot of confidence on the ties benefitting the two countries.
According to him, the long-standing cooperation has manifested itself in key sectors including economy, energy, water, health, trade and technology, thus bringing about greater benefits.
“President Samia is pleased with your visit to Tanzania and it’s her expectation that it will bring major benefits between the two countries.
“In June 2022, the country witnessed six companies from India signing agreements of implementing water projects in 28 towns worth 500 million US dollars of which upon their completion will enable over six million Tanzanians to get reliable access to water,” stated the PM.
Mr Majaliwa called upon India which currently holds the Chairmanship of the G-20 countries to assume the role of a defender to the developing countries, including Tanzania particularly on issues of climate change, food security, women and youth empowerment and the fight against the devastating impacts of Covid-19.
Besides, the PM described the Speaker and his delegation’s visit as a move to improve the collaboration between the Parliament of India and that of Tanzania through exchanges of ideas and related stuff between their members and other executives.
“I urge all members of Parliament to develop a plan of visiting and exchanging experience in boosting cooperation among them,” he noted.
On the other hand, he extended recognition to the government of India for its immense cooperation through the provision of study opportunities to Tanzanian experts in different sectors, requesting the country to further extend the support in other areas including information communication technology (ICT), health, engineering, agriculture, minerals and gas.
For his part, Speaker Birla expressed readiness of the Lok Sabha as a good spokesman for the cooperation and development between Tanzania and India so that the two countries continue to benefit from the existing relations.
“On behalf of the government and Parliament of India, we extend our appreciation to President Samia for demonstrating exemplary…we are currently witnessing a heightened economy in Tanzania and major execution of projects…please convey our sincere acknowledgement,” said the Speaker.
The Indian delegation is on a three-day working visit to Tanzania of which among other things, they will visit various tourism attraction sites including some National Parks.