Tanzania: Kikwete to lead business delegation to SA forum

Dar es Salaam. President Jakaya Kikwete is expected to lead a Tanzanian delegation to a business forum in South Africa next Tuesday.Organisers of the event, which will take place in Pretoria, are the Tanzania Investment Forum (TIC), the ministry of Trade and Industry, the Tanzania High Commission to South Africa and the South African Department of Trade and Industry.




TIC acting executive director Raymond Mbilinyi told journalists on Tuesday that the forum was part of the agency’s programme to encourage and assist the establishment of joint ventures between Tanzanians and foreigners.

He hopes that the forum will provide a platform for Tanzanian and South African business leaders to fully discuss business opportunities.The Tanzanian delegation will meet South African business leaders involved in sectors such as agriculture and agro-processing, construction, manufacturing, electronics, mining, health, tourism, general trading, information and communication technology, energy, infrastructure, service, education, water and sanitation and human capital development.

“We have prepared business profiles that will be shown in South Africa,” he said. “The business community should utilise this opportunity to the fullest to create partnerships for growth, prosperity and indeed survival,” said Tanzania Private Sector Foundation executive director Evans Rweikiza.

He said the forum had come at the right time when economic groupings such as the East African Community, the South African Development Community and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa were planning to form a single bloc. “We should attract South Africans to invest in areas such as power generation,” an official with the Confederation of Tanzania Industries, Ms Neema Mhondo, said.

She hopes that the forum is also important for Tanzanian businesspeople to learn from South Africa on how to exploit immense potential in ICT, manufacturing and other sectors.

The principal marketing official with the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture, Mr Emmanuel Nnko, called on Tanzanian business executives to learn from various countries on how tap various opportunities for development.There will be no any participation fee but delegates will pay for their own transport and accommodation.