Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation Minister Liberata Mulamula gives an address during a political dialogue between Tanzania and European Union in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO | COURTESY
Dar es Salaam. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation said yesterday it would use the COP26 meeting in Glasgow, Scotland, to revisit the
promise made by developed nations in Paris in 2015 to fund Africa with $100 billion to tackle adverse effects of climate change. The money is yet to be released.Minister Liberata Mulamula said this on the sidelines of a meeting where the government and the European Union (EU) discussed bilateral and regional matters of mutual interest.
Ambassadors of the EU member states who attended the dialogue came from Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden.
Political dialogues have been part of the long-standing partnerships between the EU and its partners, presenting the chance to evaluate and plan around a broad range of shared interests.
“We will use the Cop26 platform to let the world know how Tanzania is tackling climate change - but also to spread the message that they promised to help our countries ... but, they have not fulfilled their promise and, instead, we are setting new targets,” she said.
It was not a secret that the countries had in one way or another caused the situation which African countries find themselves in.
She noted following the importance of environment and the challenges of climate change, President Samia Suluhu Hassan will be leading the team going to Glasgow for the COP26 meeting to enable the world know that Tanzania has set its own priorities to the effect.
“President Hassan has continuously stressed that the global challenges require Tanzania to walk with the rest of the world in tackling climate change,” she said.
However, she noted that during the political dialogue with EU they also discussed Zanzibar’s blue economy and how Tanzania had invested in forests and protected its water sources among others to tackle climate change.
She noted they also focused on the Cotonou Partnership Agreement signed in 2000 in which Tanzania has been taking part every year.
She said the purpose of the agreement is to have a common goal between Tanzania with Africa, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) and the European Union on various issues between them.
“Tanzania being one of the countries in ACP that has the responsibility according to the agreement to hold a dialogue at least ones every year,” she said.
She noted that in the discussions they have agreed on issues touching on development relationship between Tanzania and the EU, business and investment, human rights and democracy, regional issues as well as cross cutting international issues.
“We expect that the discussions will enable us have an understanding on various national issues, regional and international and convince the EU to continue its cooperation with Tanzania including execution of strategic projects for the benefit of both sides, “she said.
She said “the EU has been funding many projects: education, health, and infrastructure as well as energy. But, today, we want to improve our investment and business chances.”
Noting that the discussions also centred on human rights in which Tanzania has published its report that will be issued in Geneva, the minister said that “The report has been uploaded on the website and it centers on a number of issues including media freedom, human rights and how some laws were reviewed to allow rights of the people.”
Meanwhile, Amb. Rita Laranjinha - Managing Director for Africa at the European External Action Service (EEAS) - said among other things that were discussed in the meeting included the need to improve the investment environment so as to enable EU companies to engage in the sector.
“Next week, a delegation of the European Investment Bank will come to the country and reengage with Tanzania on the possibility of future investments,” she said.
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