NEW DELHI, Oct 10 (NNN-DAILYNEWS) — TANZANIA and India have agreed to open new avenues for political and economic development as well as economic cooperation that will lead to strategic partnership.
At this juncture, the two countries inked six agreements of cooperation including the digital domain, culture, sports, maritime industries and white shipping information sharing.
They also agreed on a five-year roadmap in the field of defence. Through this, new dimensions will be added in areas like military training, maritime cooperation, capacity building and defence industry.
This was reached after President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s bilateral talks with Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi and made a joint press briefing in the Indian capital, Monday.
The two leaders reviewed various facets of bilateral ties and discussed ways to further deepen the close and historic ties between the two countries.
“We have agreed to open new avenues of cooperation as well as scaling up our cooperation to a Strategic Partnership framework,” Samia said.
She noted that trade and investment volumes between the two nations were on an upward trajectory.
“Up to 2022, our two-way trade figures were 3.1 billion US dollars, this makes India the third-largest trading partner in Tanzania and the fifth-largest investor in the country,” she said.
The President also welcomed the decision of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) to open its first-ever overseas campus in Tanzania.
Equally, the Head of State said Tanzania and India have been working on several other areas, including the supply of clean and safe water as well as defence and security and other issues that have been adequately worked out.
President Samia commended Modi for hosting the G20 Summit in New Delhi last month where the Indian Prime Minister successfully advocated for Africa to become a full member of the G20, proposed debt relief for vulnerable nations, reforms of the United Nations Security Council, multilateral financial institutions and the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
“Tanzania, we pledge to participate fully in the India-African summit and are ready to play the role required to make the summit successful,” Samia added.
For his side, Indian Prime Minister Modi said India and Tanzania are important partners for mutual trade and investment and both sides are working on an agreement to increase trade in local currencies.
Modi expressed happiness that Tanzania has decided to join the Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) launched by India at the G20 Summit.
He also said that Tanzania’s decision to join the International Big Cat Alliance (IBCA) will enable strengthening global efforts for the conservation of big cats.
The Prime Minister highlighted that India has made significant contributions to Tanzania’s skill development and capacity building through ICT centres, vocational training, defence training, ITEC and ICCR scholarships.
He said India has tried to bring positive changes in the lives of Tanzanian people by working together in important areas like water supply, agriculture, health and education.
President Samia’s four-day state visit to India underscores her government’s commitment to enhance and deepen the friendship and bilateral cooperation between Tanzania and India, which has been existing for decades.
Samia accompanied by various Ministers and a large business delegation also participated in a business and investment forum in Delhi on Oct 10.
Present at the meeting will be the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) detailing opportunities found in Tanzania, Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA) and India’s business community. The meeting will be accompanied by a discussion, whereby Tanzanian ministers will further explain the opportunities.
On Oct 11, Samia will take part in a CEO roundtable with 17 India’s major business persons along with their ministers intensively discussing available opportunities in Tanzania and later meet one-on-one with them. — NNN-DAILYNEWS
