TURKEY: TANZANIA and Türkiye have agreed to promote bilateral relations by increasing trade volume from the current 300 million US dollars (over 770bn/-) to 1billion US dollars (over 2.5tri/-).
The target was unveiled on Friday at a business forum which brought together more than 100 Tanzanian business community members and over 200 others from Türkiye.
Officiating the opening of the forum, President Samia Suluhu Hassan encouraged Turkish investors to utilise the available opportunities in the East African giant, including the agriculture, tourism and manufacturing sectors.
She informed the business community that Tanzania, with over 60 million people, the majority being youths, enjoys a strategic location as the gateway to the East and Southern African regions, which constitutes a market of about 500 million people.
“With well-established trade routes and a network of ports, including the Port of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean, investing in Tanzania means gaining access to expanding business and investments,” President Samia said.
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She also highlighted Tanzania’s ongoing expansion of its railway network, linking the Port of Dar es Salaam with neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Burundi.
This initiative aims to enhance the transportation of heavy loads of up to 10,000 tonnes, subsequently boosting trade and investment in the region. Regarding the $1 billion USD trade volume target set by the Tanzania and Türkiye heads of State, Tanzania’s Minister for Industry and Trade, Dr Ashatu Kijaji, expressed confidence in its achievability.
She called upon business communities from both countries to collaborate in investing in the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. The Minister further emphasised Tanzania’s open door policy, good leadership under President Samia and reforms aimed at improving the business environment, citing these as reasons why Turkish business community members should invest in the East African resource rich country.
Vice-President of the Republic of Turkey, Mr Cevdet Yilmaz, echoed the call for the two countries to leverage their existing good relationship to achieve the stipulated trade target.
He noted that the current trade volume between the two countries does not reflect the bilateral relationship between Dar es Salaam and Istanbul, emphasising the need for more concerted efforts to achieve the agreed upon goals.
Speaking earlier, chairperson of the Board of Directors of the Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), Mr Theobald Sabi, highlighted that the current trade balance favours Turkey over Tanzania.
However, he expressed optimism that the existing bilateral relations between the two countries could enable Tanzania to increase its exports, while also positioning Istanbul as a bridge for accessing the European market. On Thursday, the two heads of State witnessed the signing of six Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) on higher education, economic diplomacy and cultural cooperation.
The leaders further agreed that the ministers and experts from the two countries should meet and come up with a framework to strategise on implementation of agreed upon areas of cooperation.
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