DAR ES SALAAM, July 5 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has extended gratitude to the European Union (EU) for agreeing to provide Euro 179.35m (about 455bn/-) to finance three projects, including Blue Economy.
The EU has also disbursed to the Tanzanian government a total of Euro 46,110, 400 (about 117.036bn/-) as grant support of the government budget in the implementation on national development programmes.
Both the EU and the government on Tuesday signed three different financing agreements at an event that was witnessed by Samia, among other top leaders.
At the event, the EU Head of Delegation to Tanzania, Ambassador Manifredo Fanti, also announced another budget support funds disbursed amounting to 140bn/-.
The EU budget support disbursements is for five programmes financed through the new cooperation framework known as Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) for Tanzania, covering a period of seven years (2021-2027).
There is also one additional programme financed under the outgoing framework of 11th European Development Fund (EDF), National Indicative Programme, according to Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Finance and Planning, Dr Natu Mwamba.
The PS said the amount of funds disbursed will support policy reforms and sector development around areas of Blue Economy, Finance for Growth, Gender, Green and Smart Cities, Promotion of Digitisation sector in Tanzania as well as improvement of rural roads in the Southern Highlands regions.
The EU-TZ Annual Action Plan 2022 covers Blue Economy -Euro 110 million (about 279.20bn/-), Finance for Growth Euro 63.35 million (about 160.79bn/-) and Cooperation Facility worth Euro 6 million (15.23bn/-).
Speaking after the signing of the financing agreements, President Samia expressed her appreciation to Ambassador Fanti, the Ministry of Finance and Planning, a team from the EU and the entire Tanzanian government for making the event a reality and successful.
“For decades, the EU has been one of our key strategic partners in development and aspiration for achieving sustainable development and this is proved by the amount of financial support extended by EU to Tanzania since the signing of the first partnership agreement between the EU and African Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) states in 1975,” she noted.
According to the Head of State, so far Tanzania has received from EU about 2,394 million Euro (about 5.9tri/-) as grants and a total of 216.41 million Euro (about 547.99bn/-) as concessional loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB).
“These funds have been instrumental in the implementation of various development agenda and programmes in Tanzania, including macroeconomic, sectorial policies, road transport, airports, energy, agriculture, environment and climate change, among others,” insisted Dr Samia.
Samia assured the EU of effective utilisation of the disbursed funds to bring the desired outcome.
She requested for the EU to integrate Mwanza Airport on its projects, so that the airport can serve internationally. She said the government wants Mwanza Region to be the hub for the International Conference on the Great Lake Region (ICGLR).
In his remarks, Ambassador Fanti said that EU had for a long time been providing budgetary support to the government of Tanzania, insisting that the cooperation will remain intact.
He lauded President Samia for her good leadership in transforming the country’s economy as well as maintaining the best policy framework.
Fanti said the budgetary support is in line with United Nations (UN) shared targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which among other priorities are to improve people’s livelihood and global economic performance.
He said by doing so, the EU will support government efforts on realising green urban mobility through the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) expansion across the country’s cities especially the business capital.
Additionally, he commended the government’s great effort on bridging the gender disparities through policy reforms specifically on education and leadership that have increased girls and women participation in national decision making and economic development at large.
Fanti also used the platform to extend his goodbye wish to the country after four year of service, thanking government leaders for showcasing whole-hearted cooperation.
At the event, the Minister for Finance and Planning, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba said the grant provided by EU was yet another significant milestone in bolstering cooperation. — NNN-DAILYNEWS
