TANZANIAN AMBASSADOR MAPURI’S INTERVIEW
WITH THE “CHINA DAILY” NEWSPAPER

Question: How could you describe the current relationship between Tanzania and China and how have developed over the years

Answer: Tanzania and China maintain excellent cordial relations, thanks to the strong bonds of friendship and cooperation initiated by the Founding Fathers of these two Nations; the late Mwalimu Nyerere and Mao Zedong. All generations of leadership that followed in both countries have never failed one another and have kept up the spirit of fraternal ties at all times. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1964, we have on both sides strived to bring our peoples closer.

Tanzania regards China as an all time reliable ally and a true friend of the highest degree. We have stood together in different international endeavors of mutual interest for both of us, not least, the decolonization of Africa but also the reinstatement of China into the UN Security Council on a permanent member basis. We also share a common understanding on the South-South agenda and now in the unfolding new global economic order in which China is increasingly playing a pivotal role.

Over the years, this relationship has transcended the traditional government to government contacts and has extended to people to people cooperation. More and more Tanzanian businesspersons are trading in China and Chinese entrepreneurs are investing in Tanzania.

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Question: Why should Chinese investors do business in Tanzania

Answer: We have plenty of opportunities and China being our close friend and an emerging economic giant, why not

Tanzania is an emerging economy with a very high growth potential. Whilst the economy is relatively diversified, a number of opportunities remain untapped in many sectors. We are currently fully engaged in making efforts to attract not only the Chinese investors but all interested investors the world over. In the attempt to make Tanzania the preferred destination for foreign direct investment, continuous improvements towards the creation of an enabling environment have been made.

The following attributes among others, constitute the foundation of the enabling environment for investors Tanzania is proud of:-

Tanzania boasts of the very strong and vibrant Tanzania National Business Council (TNBC) – www.tnbctz.com that brings together senior Government leaders and CEOs of prominent private sector enterprises of all kinds- fully owned by Tanzanians, joint ventures, and those fully owned by foreign entities. The Council is chaired by the President of the Republic of Tanzania and sits quarterly. This provides an assured forum for the private sector to engage into open dialogue with the Government and interact directly and freely with the President, Ministers, Private Sectaries etc. four times a year … what a rare opportunity availed to investors in Tanzania!
In the same spirit, the Government has established the National Investment Steering Committee (NISC) under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister to resolve critical investment issues that are of a cross sectoral nature through a fast-tracking arrangement.
The private sector through its organizations such as the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) – www.tccia.co.tz, the Zanzibar Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (ZCCIA) and the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) – www.cti.co.tz participates fully in these public-private sector partnership forums.

At the international level, by virtue of Tanzania being a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group and the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), investors are assured of the safety of their investments in the country.
In addition, Tanzania is a member of and signatory to several International agreements covering Multilateral, Bilateral, and Regional Agreements that inter alia, provide for guarantees of investments.

We have since 1999 established a one-stop facilitation agency; the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) – www.tic.co.tz for the purpose of streamlining bureaucracy. TIC is the primary agency of Government assigned to coordinate, encourage, promote and facilitate investment in Tanzania and to advise the Government on investment related matters. Just contact TIC and the whole Tanzania and her investment opportunities unfold to you. And immediately you decide to invest, all the services you require to start a business are at your disposal at TIC – you do not have to walk around from one office to another.

N.B: *DSE – Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange - www.darstockexchange.com

In order to facilitate availability of land for investment, the Ministries responsible for Lands, Human Settlements, Natural Resources, Tourism, Trade, Industries and Marketing have drawn a Land Data Bank where areas earmarked for investment are identified and put at the disposal of potential investors. 743 land parcels (with a total area of 3.1m hectares) were verified of which 2.6m hectares have been classified as suitable for investment. The land use distribution of the suitable land is as follows:

Tanzania has been ranked among top ten reformers of business regulations amongst 175 economies of the world covered in the 2006 survey. According to the World Bank sponsored Doing Business 2007 Report released on 6th September 2006, Tanzania performed extremely well in the reforms of business regulations in the following indicators: -

Tanzania was rated number one investment destination in Africa with the highest sales growth by the UNIDO Africa Foreign Investor Survey, 2003.

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Question: What are the Tanzania’s unique advantages vis-à-vis its
neighbours

Answer: There are many but suffice to mention the following as examples:

On the economic front, Tanzania has experienced a sound macroeconomic performance. One of our achievements has been inflation control, which has declined from over 30% two decades ago to below 5% today. The economic growth has been stellar in the recent years. Over the last two decades, the economy has grown from the rate of less than 3% to nearly 7%. This coupled with discipline in inflation control has made the local currency (the Tanzanian Shillings) relatively stable and predictable, providing certainty to the investment climate in the country.

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The East African Community is currently fast tracking the process of reducing tariffs down to the zero rate by the year 2010.

Furthermore, your investment in Tanzania gives you access to markets beyond East Africa. Tanzania is a member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), - www.sadcreview.com a trading bloc in Southern Africa with 15 member countries and approximately 300 million people.

Tanzania qualifies for preferential treatment under the European Union’s Everything But Arms (EBA) initiative where Tanzania businesses can export certain products to the European Union tariff-free. Doing business in Tanzania also gives you access to the US market through the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) window, which offers tariff breaks for certain products originating from Tanzania. Moreover, under the Special Preferential Tariff Agreement with China within the framework of the Forum on China-Africa Co-operation (FOCAC), over 187 goods originating from Tanzania can be exported to China free of tariff.

Unique Tourist Attractions

Tanzania is home to the following major attractions among many more others: -

Tanzania’s tourist attractions offer opportunities for investment in a wide range of businesses such as hotels, amusement parks, wildlife farming and air and ground transport.

Investors’ partners in this sector include the Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB), Tanzania Odyssey – www.tanzania-we.com, Zanzibar Commission for Tourism – www.zanzibartourism.net and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism – www.mnrt.org.

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Abundance of Minerals

Tanzania boasts of an abundance of a wide variety of minerals. We are currently the third biggest of producer of gold in Africa. We have huge unexploited deposits of iron ore and coal. We have a wide variety of gemstones including the all conquering Tanzanite that is found only in Tanzania.

There is a strong indication of existence of oil deposits in Tanzania that has attracted many oil prospecting investors. Interested Chinese investors are invited. Please contact the Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (TPDC) at www.tpdc-tz.com

At this juncture, let me take this opportunity to assure Chinese investors that investing in Tanzania will be economically and politically viable.

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Question: Tanzania’s goal is to achieve 8% GDP growth in the near future , how do you intend to achieve this and what do you expect to be the challenges along the way
Answer: Actually the aim is to achieve a 10% GDP growth by 2010. The 8% growth is the threshold that can hold the promise of poverty eradication.
Since early 1986, the Government of Tanzania has, with determination, launched a comprehensive economic reform and stabilization programme. In pursuit of this programme, agricultural marketing has been liberalised, foreign exchange controls have been lifted, price deregulation has been effected, an enhanced private sector involvement in the economy through privatisation programmes and a new investment code offering competitive incentives have been put in place.
These comprehensive economic reforms have resulted into improved competitiveness, lower tariffs, increasing levels of foreign investment and trade, improved key economic indictors and rapid integration into world markets. Generally, Tanzania has experienced sound macroeconomic performance, as substantiated by a decreasing inflation rate and a growing economy.
During 2005/6, the Government identified and prioritized important policy issues for the medium term. These include: Sustainable economic growth; investment in infrastructure, salary reforms and increase in productivity; implementation of the National Strategy for Growth and Reduction of Poverty (NSGRP/MKUKUTA); and the implementation of the Second Generation Financial Sector Reform. In view of the medium-term dimension, these issues remain on the priority agenda list of the Government in the forthcoming years.

With regard to economic growth, the aforementioned sustainable higher economic growth rate is targeted in order to reduce income poverty and and improve the social well being of the people. In order to achieve this objective, more and sustainable efforts will focus on the following areas:

On the part of challenges, the following are expected to continue to feature prominently:

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Question: What role do you think Chinese investors can play in the economic growth of Tanzania

Answer: Like other foreign investors, Chinese can play a bigger role in the acceleration of the growth of the Tanzanian economy. At the time when China is struggling to cool her overheated economic growth, it is imperative that Chinese vent off the excess heat by investing in Tanzania. That vented off heat will jettison the Tanzanian economy to the mutual benefits of the two best friends.

Question: Which sectors of the Tanzania economy could benefit most from the Chinese FDI/ technology/ know how
Answer: As noted above, while the Tanzanian economy is relatively diversified, a number of opportunities have not been explored. We have categorized our investment opportunities into two categories: the Lead Sectors and the Priority sectors.
The Lead Sectors include: Agriculture and Agro-based Industries; Mining; Petroleum and Gas; Tourism, and Infrastructure. The Priority Sectors include: Energy, Manufacturing, Chemical Industries, Natural Resources (Fishing & Forestry), Construction and Real Estate Development, Management Consultancy, Human Resource Development (Hospitals, Health Centers, and Educational Facilities), Radio and Television Broadcasting and Export Oriented Projects.

Sectors that could benefit most from Chinese FDI, technology and know how include: Commercial Agriculture, Agromechanics, Infrastructure, Tourism, Manufacturing, Ranching, Deep sea Fishing, Mining, and the whole range of sectors that encompass value-adding processes. Notable examples of these include agro-processing, gemstone cutting and polishing, jewellery, food processing etc.

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Question: What export products/ services can Tanzania provide to the Chinese market

Answer: In 2005, bilateral trade between Tanzania and China increased by almost 70% (compared to 2004) reaching around 470m US dollars. Imports by China from Tanzania went up by 150.1 % valued at about 170m US dollars; while exports from China to Tanzania increased by 40.6% valued at around 300m US dollars. The volume of trade is still small but this trend is very encouraging.

The tripled growth of Tanzania’s exports of mainly cotton, gold and sisal to China in the past year has been mainly attributed to China’s Preferential Tariff Agreement being extended on 187 items from African countries including Tanzania. Other Tanzanian exports to China which enjoy preferential tariff treatment include sesame seeds, wet goat skins, sea shells, waste plastics and sea weeds. Other products that are on offer but are yet to appreciably enter the Chinese market include cotton, coffee, cashew nuts, tobacco, minerals, fish and fish products, cultural products (handcrafts) and manufactured goods. In the spirit of our Bilateral Tariff Agreement these export products are also expected to find a place in the vast Chinese market in the near future, thus pushing up the volume of trade between our two countries to levels that are commensurate with our friendship.

I must also say at this juncture that our desire in the future is to export to China more value-added products rather than primary raw materials. It is in this spirit that we encourage Chinese investors to invest in Tanzania in manufacturing and processing enterprises.

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Question: What steps is the government taking to promote Tanzania as a business and tourist destination in the Chinese market Is there any government programmes designed to stimulate Sino-Tanzania cooperation

Answer: In June 2004 an Approved Tourist Destination Status (ADS) Agreement was signed between Tanzania and China. Under the signed agreement, both sides recommended tour operators who will handle Chinese tourists wishing to travel to Tanzania. Following the signing of the ADS the Embassy embarked on campaign to attract Chinese tourists to travel to Tanzania. The TV crews from BTV and CCTV 5 went to Tanzania to film tourist attractions with the aim to inform Chinese of the tourism potentials available in Tanzania. These programmes have been shown in Chinese television. Embassy has also taken part in Tourism Exhibitions all over China. Procedures for obtaining visas have been revised within a short time. Detailed visa requirements including the visa application form can be downloaded from the Embassy’s website: www.tanzaniaembassy.org.cn. It takes a maximum of two days to get a visa.

Also, following the signing of the Bilateral Air Space Agreement between Tanzania and China in 2005, efforts are now geared towards finding suitable airlines that can commute between the two countries, thus shortening the travel distance.

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Question: In your time as Ambassador to China, have you seen an increase in interest for Chinese investment in Tanzania and for Tanzanian product in China If so in which fields

Answer: As you know, I have just arrived and I am very new here. But from my general experience, China is doing very fine in the Tanzanian investment market. China has jumped from a novice to the third leading investor in Tanzania, contributing 13% of all foreign investments in 2005.

Chinese investors in Tanzania have mainly ventured in agriculture, mining, road construction, car fixing, and merchandise. They stand a chance to topple the UK (23% contribution) and India (18% contribution) from the top when they start widening the scope of their involvement, as I expect them after being better informed about our country and its prospects.

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Question: What are Tanzania expectations and goals from the China Africa cooperation forum this November

Answer: When the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was founded in 2000, China was known to be a sleeping economic giant and her potentials were already evident. But little was known that this giant would flex its muscles so soon. Only six years later, China has emerged into what is today seen as the economic miracle of the world. Tanzania and indeed the whole of Africa, considers ourselves lucky to be in partnership with such economic power. With this year’s Summit goal to advance the new strategic partnership between China and Africa, we expect the most out of this partnership. This new type strategic partnership can best be discerned from the recently released Chinese Government policy document: “China’s African Policy” The central features of this partnership according to the policy are mutual trust, economic win-win cooperation and cultural exchange. Indeed we share these views and are inspired by the rapid Chinese economic development. It now dawns on us that with the Chinese brand of determination that should diffuse into Africa through this partnership, poverty eradication in Tanzania is an immediate future possibility. We stand an excellent chance to benefit from the fast growing Chinese economy through Chinese Direct Investments into our countries and easy access of our exports to the huge market that China offers. It is in this context that Tanzania’s expectations from the November 2006 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation are high. We hope a multilateral framework of enhanced cooperation between China and Africa will put in place a mechanism which will enable bilateral operational programmes and projects to be developed and realized. Tanzania hopes to capture the opportunities that will be availed by this arrangement.

Question: What would be your personal message to readers of China Daily

Answer: The Embassy of the United Republic of Tanzania avails itself for a meticulous service to Chinese who wish to invest in Tanzania. We are located at No. 8, Liang Ma He Nan Lu, Chaoyang District, Beijing. Feel free to come at your convenience for enquiries and more information. Our website is www.tanzaniaembassy.org.cn. At the moment, the website is being redesigned to make it more informing and user friendly. Don’t hesitate to visit it regularly.

Above all I encourage readers of China Daily and the Chinese people in general to invest in Tanzania, their historical friend, traditional ally and a safe heaven to their investments.

Tanzania Embassy, Beijing

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