THE government will continue to pursue sustainable economic diplomacy to boost the national economy, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, East Africa and Regional Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, insisted yesterday.
The minister made the emphasis yesterday
in the National Assembly when tabling his 151.4bn/- budget estimates
for the 2016/2017 fiscal year. Tanzania started embarking on economic
diplomacy in 2001 seeking to improve its economy through its relations
with
According to the minister, out of the
budget estimates, a total of 143.396bn/- will be spent on recurrent
expenditure whereas theremaining 8bn/- will be spent on development
projects. Some of the development projects to be implemented include
construction of a building to house the ministry offices next to the
Julius International Convention Centre (JNICC) in Dar es Salaam,
renovation of Tanzania’s embassy buildings in Mozambique, Sweden and
Sudan.
On the other hand, Dr Mahiga said in the
next fiscal year the ministry, through Tanzanian embassies abroad,
plans to collect revenues amounting to 24.001bn/-.
On the other hand, Dr Mahiga informed
the House yesterday that President John Magufuli has directed that the
East African Community (EAC) flag should be hoisted alongside the
Tanzania flag at all public offices and that the community’s anthem
should be played at all functions where the national anthem is played.
Among others, the move is aimed at
creating public awareness among Tanzanians about the regional bloc -- to
enable them participate and benefit from business and investment
opportunities in the regional grouping with a population of about 145
million people.
“In his capacity as the current Chairman
of the EAC, President Magufuli has instructed, through my ministry,
increased use of the community’s anthem and flag in Tanzania.
“I thus take this opportunity to inform
the august House on the directive and this should cover all public
offices, including central and local governments in addition to public
organisations,” Dr Mahiga explained.
He urged the private sector and MPs to
heed to the directive by hoisting the EAC flag at their offices and
vehicles alongside the national flag. “In the same vein, I urge the
electronic media to play the community’s anthem whenever the national
anthem is played,” Dr Mahiga urged.
The minister explained further that the
move is part of a communication strategy by the ministry on enabling
Tanzanians to get prepared and make use of openings in the regional
grouping.
The EAC is made up of six countries --
Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda while South Sudan was
approved as a new member early this year. During the 17th EAC Heads of
States Meeting in Arusha in March, Tanzania was chosen as the chair of
the regional bloc for a second year running until November this year.
The Vice-Chairman of the Parliamentary
Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security, Mr Masoud Ali Khamis
(Mfenesini-CCM) noted with concern that as of March this year, the
ministry had not received a penny out of the 8bn/- budgeted for
development vote in the current fiscal year.
Presenting the views of the committee on
the ministry’s estimates, Mr Khamis noted as well that during the
period, the ministry received only 110.7bn/- out of 146.9bn/- allocated
for the year.
For his part, the Shadow Minister for
the Ministry, Reverend Peter Msigwa (Iringa Urban-Chadema) took issues
with what he described as poor state of buildings hosting Tanzanian
embassies abroad as well as shortage of personnel in the missions.
In his presentation of the opposition’s
analysis of the budget estimates, Mr Msigwa proposed as well that the
Bank of Tanzania (BoT) should form a system to track remittances of
Tanzanians in foreign countries to be able to appreciate their
contribution to the local economy.
Mr Msigwa recommended as well that the
government should formalise the remittances to boost the economy as it
has been done in other countries such as Ethiopia and Kenya, which have
benefited immensely from their citizens in the Diaspora
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