H.E.
Khalil Al Khonji, Chairman, Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry;
Eng.
Aloys J. Mwamanga, President, Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and
Agriculture;
Ms.
Munira Humoud Said, President, Zanzibar Chamber of Commerce, Industry and
Agriculture;
Honorable Ministers;
Distinguished Businessmen and Women;
Invited Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I thank you Mr. Khalil Al
Khonji, Chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry for inviting me to
attend and speak at the historic first, Tanzania – Oman Business Forum. I thank the Oman
Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the Tanzania Embassy for conceiving the
idea of holding this important meeting and organizing it so well. I am visiting
the Sultanate of Oman, at the invitation of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, to
consolidate the longstanding historic social, political and economic relations
and cooperation that so happily exists between our two countries and peoples. This,
Forum, therefore is a vehicle for promoting and strengthening economic, trading
and investment cooperation between our governments and peoples. I wish
events of this nature could take place more often and regularly, both here in
Oman and back home in Tanzania.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
The
Sultanate of Oman is a very special country to Tanzania. There is no other
country on this planet with as many of its citizens who have blood relations
with the people of Tanzania. This is a unique asset or resource which our two countries
can use to promote stronger political, social and economic ties for the mutual
benefit of our two countries and two peoples. I am undertaking this visit and I
speak at this Forum this afternoon precisely for that reason.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
I heartily welcome the holding
of this Forum and I look forward with great anticipation to the outcome of this
meeting. I hope Oman and Tanzanian business
people and the several government officials gathered here this afternoon will rise to the
occasion and take our economic relations to the next level. I want to see increased economic, investment
and business relations between our two friendly countries become more robust because
we both have a lot to offer to each other and much to benefit.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Let
me start by stating emphatically that Tanzania is a great place to invest and
do business. We have worked so hard for over two decades
now to put in place a very conducive investment environment. We have opened our doors wide for anyone
interested to bring capital and do business with us. We offer a wide range of investment
incentives just like several other popular investment destinations in the
world. And, in some respect we are even
more generous and attractive.
I am happy that I have brought
with me responsible government officials and some businessmen from both
Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland who will give you detailed information and answer
all your questions.
Peace, Good Governance and Conducive
Business Environment
Ladies
and Gentlemen;
Tanzania
is a peaceful and politically stable country. This is a critical asset for one
to invest. We are a young vibrant multiparty democracy. We uphold the tenets of
good governance, respect of human rights and the rule of law. The fight against corruption and other vices in
society is unwavering, despite the daunting challenges we are faced with.
Private investments in Tanzania are guaranteed by government
policy and law against nationalization and expropriation. Investors
are allowed to take their money. They
can repatriate profits and dividends without inhibitions. Besides, Tanzania is a signatory and a party to several multilateral
and bilateral agreements on protection and promotion of investments. Among such
international agreements and memberships, Tanzania is a member of Multilateral
Investment Guarantee Agency of the World Bank (MIGA) and the Swiss based
International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID).
At the
bilateral level, Tanzania has entered into investment promotion and protection
agreements with many countries. I am happy that, shortly before my coming here we
witnessed the signing of the Agreements on the Promotion and Protection of
Investment and the establishment of Joint Business Council between Oman and
Tanzania. Surely, these will go a long way towards reducing further the risk of
investing in Tanzania and promoting business relations. I hope our two governments
will conclude at the earliest possible time, ongoing the negotiations on the
avoidance of double taxation.
Market-based Economy with Stable
Macroeconomic and Fiscal Policy Regime
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Tanzania
espouses market based economic policies.
This is very much a function of economic reforms we have been undertaken
since the mid-1980s. As you may know, prior to that Tanzania espoused socialist
policies. All commanding heights of the economy were in the hands of the
state. The state was involved in the
production and distribution of goods and services from village to national
level. The state also continued to
perform the traditional functions of maintaining law and order and, governing
with the advent of economic reforms a fundamental policy decision was
made. This was about the government
doing the primary functions of the state of governing and maintaining law and
order, leaving the private sector to do business.
Briefly,
the new policy could be summarized as follows, let “Government Govern and Private Sector do Business”. In pursuit of this new policy the government
began to withdraw from direct involvement in production and distribution
activities and left them in the hands of the private sector. A comprehensive programme of divestiture of state enterprises followed. Todate, most state enterprises have been privatized
except for a few public utilities in the sector of water, electricity,
railways, roads, health and education.
Even with these sectors, the private sector is allowed direct
involvements. The government still owns
the state enterprises although in some aspects there is private sector participation.
The
economic reforms have worked well for the Tanzanian economy despite some
challenges. The economy has turned around
from the stresses and downward trends before the reform. The macro-economic frame back on track and
benefits are being enjoyed. Tanzania today
enjoys macro-economic stability. All macro-economic indicators are good and at
the seven percent average economic growth rate over the past decade, Tanzania
is among the 20 fastest growing economies in the world. Currently, due to high food and oil prices,
inflation has been a challenge. However,
there are positive signs of decline, from 19.5 percent three months ago to 14.9
percent last month. We hope to get back
to single digit by June, 2013.
Geographical Location
Ladies
and Gentlemen;
Tanzania
is strategically located in the eastern coast of Africa so, come and invest to
take advantage of it. Tanzania borders eight countries of Kenya, Uganda,
Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Malawi and Mozambique. It
is a gateway for six landlocked countries Zambia, Malawi, Rwanda, Democratic
Republic of Congo, Burundi and Uganda which use Tanzanian ports, roads,
railways for their import and export trade. Tanzania is also the gateway for
goods to and from Eastern DRC. In this
regard, therefore, investments or businesses to cater for the facilitation of
imports and exports of these countries present lucrative opportunities.
One
can invest in lucrative freight related businesses like clearing and
forwarding, warehousing, logistic centres, trucking business etc. But there are
also opportunities in port development and management, building toll roads, railways,
air transportation etc.
This
location also presents ample opportunities for situating manufacturing and
trading businesses in Tanzania. There is
almost a captive market to take advantage off.
Fortunately, also Tanzania shares regional economic grouping with all
these countries. As such, locating your businesses in Tanzania enables you to
access the East African Community market of 120 million people which are in
Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi. You
can also access close to 200 million people market of the Southern African
Development Community, with the DRC, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Angola, Namibia,
South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Swaziland, Mauritius, Seychelles and
Madagascar. In these two economic groupings
there is free movement of goods and services. There is discussion going on
between East African Community, SADC and COMESA of creating free Trade
Area. This boasts population of close to
540 million and USD 1trillion GDP.
Ladies
and Gentlemen;
Besides
its geography Tanzania itself presents abundant investment opportunities in
agriculture, mining, tourism, manufacturing, fishing, ICT, and infrastructure
development. In agriculture there is plenty of arable land yet to be utilized,
the climate is permissive and there are adequate water resources for irrigation. In mining nearly all minerals known to exist
in the earth crust also do exist in Tanzania and some in large qualities. Of recent, with the new discoveries of
sizeable natural gas deposits, it makes Tanzania to be a prospective an emerging
market for gas production in the world.
In
the hospitality industry with the beautiful and historic spice Islands of
Zanzibar and exotic world renown game parks, on the mainland. Tanzania is a
tourist destination worthy investing now and in future. With the huge lakes and
1000 km of sea coastline and the 200 km EEZ, fishing is a highly prospective
investment opportunity. Right now there
is no serious fishing in our sea.
There
are limitless opportunities in infrastructure development, telecommunications,
power generation, railways, ports development, airports, airlines etc. With a
huge raw material base from agriculture, mining, fishing and forestry investments
in manufacturing present huge potential.
There is, as mentioned earlier, a sizeable own market of close to 45
million people, 120 million people East African Community and 200 million
people of SADC market. But we also have market access arrangements with the USA
under AGOA, European Union (Everything but arms), China and Japan which makes
investing in Tanzania even more attractive.
Skilled Labour Force
Ladies
and Gentlemen;
Tanzania,
also boasts of having sizeable population of skilled labour force. Over the
years, we have invested substantially in education at all levels, from primary
to secondary school and higher learning. We have also expanded vocational
education and established training centres in every region of the country.
These have been useful in training highly qualified experts in many fields as
well as technicians and artisans in various trades. While we have invested heavily in education to
develop the local talent, we are keen on working with businesses on innovative
ways to develop the local talent that is relevant to the specialized areas of
interest. It is important to note also that labour
in Tanzania is relatively less expensive compared to many other parts of the
world.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
The
business climate that I have just described has already attracted growing
number of foreign and local investors from different countries to Tanzania.
Oman is also included in that list as between 2000 to 2011, Omani investors
have registered 36 projects worth more than USD 200 million in different
sectors. This is not much compared to what can be availed by Omani business community.
We look forward to increased investments
because as I mentioned, opportunities are many. The returns are good,
protection is guaranteed and incentives are really competitive. We also look
forward to increasing trade between Tanzania and Oman, which is currently very
low.
So
I warmly welcome you to come to Tanzania and explore the unlimited, trade,
investment and business opportunities which our country has to offer.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Those
interested in investing in the manufacturing business can take advantage of the
opportunities which exist in the various Export Processing Zones (EPZ) and the
Special Economic Zones (SEZ) which we have set up to promote and facilitate
industrial development and export of manufactured goods to the worlds. We cannot continue to be exporter of raw
materials. We want to add value to our
primary products. We will support all
those of you who will opt to operate in these designated zones.
Ladies and Gentlemen;
Let
me conclude by saying the following.
First, Tanzania meaning both Zanzibar and Tanzania Mainland is ready to
do business with you. Our doors are wide open.
Secondly, Tanzania have everything that you need to look for in taking a
decision about where to invest: conducive business environment, political sound
economic policies, macro-economic stability, abundant natural resources,
relative educated labour-force, a sizeable and captive market because of
Tanzania’s unique geographical location.
Above all, the government is facilitative.
The list is long, I can hardly exhaust it. As mentioned earlier these
will be elaborated further in the course of your discussions by the
representatives of the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) and the Zanzibar
Investment Promotion Authority (ZIPA) who are here with us.
Several ministers are also here
to clarify on some of these issues and concerns. Above all, business men and
women from Tanzania are also here to share their experiences and expectations.
After
those many words, I declare the Tanzania – Oman Business Forum is officially open.
I thank you for listening and wishing you very successful deliberations.
Thank you very much and God
bless you.
No comments:
Post a Comment