Summary
·
While
Tanzania’s major exports to France are tobacco, beans, avocados, fish, cotton,
vegetables, raw hides and skins, on the other hand, the country’s major imports
from France are airplane spare parts, aircraft engines, industrial sugar,
laboratory reagents, vaccines for veterinary medicine and animal feed
machinery.
·
With the
Basa agreement expected to support the country’s ambition to expand the reach
of its airlines, it will facilitate the movement of people and cargo.
Dar es Salaam. Tanzania and France yesterday signed a Bilateral Air
Services Agreement (Basa), a move that is set to expand the air transport
network and boost tourism and trade between the two nations.
Going by the National Bureau of
Statistics (NBS), with 100,371 arrivals last year, France brought in the second
highest number of arrivals from outside the African continent, after the US, whose
figures stood at 100,600.
The Basa, meant to attract more
tourists, was signed by the Works and Transport minister, Prof Makame Mbarawa,
on behalf of Tanzania and France’s minister for Foreign Trade and Economic
Attraction, Mr Olivier Becht.
Speaking here during the Basa
signing ceremony at the Tanzania-European Union (EU) Business Forum, Prof
Mbarawa said the signing of agreements with more countries presents Tanzania
with a larger market to tap into with tourism offerings.
“This will also enhance trade and
economic opportunities for the country across the globe,” said a soft-spoken
Mbarawa.
Official data has it that the volume
of trade between Tanzania and France stood at $81.1 million (about Sh186.5
billion) in 2021.
While Tanzania’s major exports to
France are tobacco, beans, avocados, fish, cotton, vegetables, raw hides and
skins, on the other hand, the country’s major imports from France are airplane
spare parts, aircraft engines, industrial sugar, laboratory reagents, vaccines
for veterinary medicine and animal feed machinery.
With the Basa agreement expected to
support the country’s ambition to expand the reach of its airlines, it will
facilitate the movement of people and cargo.
Tanzania Civil Aviation Authority
(TCAA) acting director general Daniel Malanga said the next step after signing
the Basa is for the Civil Aviation Authorities of Tanzania and France to
coordinate the determination of the date of entry into force.
This, he added, will go in tandem
with registering the Basa with the International Civil Aviation Organisation
(Icao) and urging airlines from the two states to make use of this new Basa
which is more liberal than the previous one.
Mr Malanga, who doubles as the
Director of Economic Regulation at TCAA, said areas of interest that are
included in the new Basa are opening Paris and Marseille for designated
airlines of Tanzania as long-haul routes and long-haul cargo between the two
countries. They also agreed to add Mayotte and Reunion destinations which are
not in the list of entry points for the Tanzanian designated airlines in the
old Basa, he added.
“The new Basa also provides a room
for code-sharing arrangements between airlines from Tanzania and France and
those from third countries,” noted Mr Malanga.
“We have increased the points of
entry (airports) from two to three. In the current Basa there is also inclusion
of provision on cargo service.”
Mr Becht, for his part, said the
Basa signing will increase traffic in key airports and attract guests from
France and other European countries.
Tanzania Airports Authority (TAA)
director general Mussa Mbura said as a fruit of good relations between Tanzania
and France, Air France, the flag carrier of France is set to start its direct
flight to Dar in May/June.
“We are ready to facilitate airlines
flying to Tanzania. We have an enabling infrastructure. We have good ground
handling companies,” said Mr Mbura.
The signing of Basa came after
experts from the two countries met in June last year in Mayotte, a French
administrative territory, to review the pact that was signed in 1978 in the
belief that it had been overtaken by events.
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