Tanzania, Comoros businesspersons to meet in Moroni for trade summit

Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) director general Jacqueline Maleko speaks during the presentation of Expo Milano 2015 in Dar es Salaam at the weekend. Left is Italian ambassador to Tanzania Luigi Scotto, who hosted the event. PHOTO | EMMANUEL HERMAN 

By Prosper Makene

The Tanzanian embassy in the Comoros in collaboration with 361 degrees, is organising a trade summit to be held in Moroni on April 23, this year alongside the celebrations of the 51st anniversary of the Tanzania union.

This summit will bring together high level government officials involved in trade facilitation as well as private sector operators from Tanzania and the Comoros.

 

A statement from the orginisers, 361 Degrees further revealed that the summit agenda will be to strengthen bilateral ties between the Comoros and Tanzania as well as formalise trade relations between both countries.

 

“The trade summit is aimed to increase current exports to the Comoros from 0.53 percent to 5 percent, promote conducive investment opportunities for Tanzanian companies to work there, regularises transport between the two nations, become one of the top five trading partners of Comoros in 5 years and empowering Tanzanian businesses to venture beyond borders,” he said.

It also said that the key sectors to be discussed are service industry, transport, agriculture, livestock, FCMG,  energy and oil and gas.

 

However, Comoros is a developing world and economic growth and poverty reduction are the major priorities for government. With a rate of 14.3 percent, unemployment is considered very high. Agriculture, including fishing, hunting, and forestry, is the leading sector of the economy, and 38.4 percent of the working population is employed in the primary sector. 

 

High population density, as much as 1000 per square kilometer in the densest agricultural zones, for what is still a mostly rural, agricultural economy may lead to an environmental crisis in the near future, especially considering the high rate of population growth. 

 

In 2004 Comoros' real GDP growth was a low 1.9 percent and real GDP per capita continued to decline. These declines are explained by factors including declining investment, drops in consumption, rising inflation, and an increase in trade imbalance due in part to lowered cash crop prices, especially vanilla. 

 

Fiscal policy is constrained by erratic fiscal revenues, a bloated civil service wage bill, and an external debt that is far above the HIPC threshold. Membership in the franc zone, the main anchor of stability, has nevertheless helped contain pressures on domestic prices.

 

Comoros has an inadequate transportation system, a young and rapidly increasing population, and few natural resources. 

 

The low educational level of the labor force contributes to a subsistence level of economic activity, high unemployment, and a heavy dependence on foreign grants and technical assistance. 

 

Agriculture contributes 40 percent to the GDP, employs 80 percent of the labor force, and provides most of the exports. Comoros is the world's largest producer of ylang-ylang, and a large producer of vanilla.

 

Their government is struggling to upgrade education and technical training, to privatize commercial and industrial enterprises, to improve health services, to diversify exports, to promote tourism, and to reduce the high population growth rate. 

 

With fewer than a million people, the Comoros is one of the least populous countries in the world, but is also one of the most densely populated, with an average of 275 inhabitants per square kilometer. 

SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN