Diplomatist Special Report - Tanzania Tanzania 2018 | Page 3

P R E F A C E
T
he United Republic of Tanzania borders Kenya and Uganda on the north, Rwanda, Burundi and the
Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique on the south. To
the east, it borders the Indian Ocean. Shortly after achieving independence from Britain in the early 1960s,
the mainland Tanganyika and the island of Zanzibar merged to form the United Republic of Tanzania in 1964.
Tanzania has sustained relatively high economic growth over the past 5 years, averaging a GDP of 6-7 percent a
year, making it one of the 20 fastest growing economies in the world and beating the Sub-Saharan Africa average
GDP growth rate of 4.4 percent during the same period. The infl ation rate has remained low at 5.2 percent which
is close to the Government’s medium-term target of 5 percent.
Tanzania’s economic potential comes from the mining and energy sector which draws increasing amounts
of global investments due to the country’s position as a net exporter of gold and its recent discoveries of natural
gas reserves. Tanzania’s economy depends heavily on the service sector, particularly tourism, which accounts for
nearly half of country’s GDP. Tanzania is known for its wide range of natural tourist attractions which include the
plains of Serengeti National Park, wildlife safari, Kilimanjaro National Park, Zanzibar’s historic Stone Town, the
Olduvai Gorge archaeological site and clean white sand beaches fringed by palm trees.
According to RMB investment survey of 2014, Tanzania is among 10 most attractive investment countries
for corporate. According to World Investment Report 2015, Tanzania leads the East African Community region
in investment infl ows after receiving foreign direct investments worth $2.146bn in 2014. Tanzania is replete
with most of the resources required to successfully achieve the long-term development objectives as laid out in
Tanzania's National Development Vision (TDV) 2025 to transform Tanzania into a middle-income economy by
2025. The Second Five Year Development Plan, 2016/17- 2020/21 is the principal and shared tool in the realisation
of these objectives.
Tanzania has close ties with India. Tanzania-India ties have been progressing on trade and investment. India
is among the top fi ve investment sources in Tanzania. Bilateral trade between Tanzania and India in 2014-2015,
stood at $3573.63 billion, of which exports to India constituted $1089.03 million and imports from India were
$2484.60 million. Tanzania views India as an important part of the Tanzania Asia ‘pivot’ strategy.
H.E. Mr. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India paid a State Visit to Tanzania from 9th to 10th July 2016 at
the invitation of H.E. Dr. John Pombe Magufuli, President of the United Republic of Tanzania. Tanzania and India
agreed to broaden cooperation in the areas such as manufacturing, development of small-scale industries for rural
developmental needs, power production and distribution, gas exploration and usage, infrastructure development,
agriculture especially in crops like pulses, mining and information technology. Tanzania has, in particular, expressed
support for India’s initiative for renewable energy capacity enhancement programme in Africa. Prime Minister
Mr. Narendra Modi met with solar engineers or "solar mamas", a group of rural Tanzanian women who have been
trained in harnessing solar energy by the Barefoot College (an Indian Non-Governmental Organisation) based in
Tilonia village in Ajmer city of the Indian state of Rajasthan. Indian Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi’s visit
successfully re-energised Tanzania–India partnership and renewed their respective country’s engagement with
each other.