TANZANIA OPENS UP TO AMERICAN INVESTORS

President Jakaya Kikwete exchanges views with US President Barack Obama during the US-Africa's Leader's Summit in Washington D.C. on August 6, 2014. 

Washington — SOME 50 projects with about 12 billion US-dollar investment requirement were presented to US investors on Tuesday for possible partnership.

They include three railway projects with an investment requirement of over 8 billion dollars and three airport ventures that need more than 600 million dollars, according to President Jakaya Kikwete.

The president, who was addressing members of the US business community who attended the Tanzania Investment Forum here on Tuesday, said there were also three special zone and three special economic zone projects that require investment of more than 120 million dollars and over 1.2 billion dollars, respectively.

He told the meeting, which was part of a series of events that took place during the US-Africa's Leaders Summit which ended yesterday, that four agricultural and six energy projects were also seeking partnership with US private sector.

The projects have investment requirement of 400 million dollars and 1.44 billion dollars, respectively. The president invited members of the US business community to come and invest in Tanzania, a country that offered a rare mix of package, including a stable political environment, unlimited investment opportunities and attractive investment incentives.

The country also has strong economic performance, dynamic emerging private sector, probusiness government, huge market and unwavering investment guarantees, he said.

Mr Kikwete assured his audience that investment opportunities abound in oil and gas, mining, agriculture, agribusiness, infrastructure, manufacturing, tourism, housing and other services.

"Investing in Tanzania is a right decision. I, therefore, welcome you to look at Tanzania seriously... come visit us, learn more and set up your business there," he told the investors. He said although Tanzania and the US enjoyed very warm and cordial relationship for many decades, business relations had not been very vibrant.

"I see this summit providing the opportunity to strengthen economic ties and take the US-Tanzania relationship to the next level. Tanzania would like to see more trade with the US and more investments from the US," he said.

He said the current 4.5 billion dollars investment and 328.8 dollars worth volume of trade was nothing compared to what the two countries could do together.

"I believe we can achieve that goal," he said. The meeting was also attended by several ministers, officials from the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) led by its Executive Director, Ms Juliet Kairuki and about 50 business leaders.

Meanwhile, the media in the United States has been asked to accord Africa a fair and positive coverage to enable the world get a true picture of the continent.

"The continent has made significant positive development and is full of opportunities," President Jakaya Kikwete stated here on Monday.

Speaking at the 5th African Business Leadership Awards luncheon here, Mr Kikwete observed that despite the fact that many great things had been happening in Africa, very little featured in the US media.

As a result, he said, the US private sector had been made to perceive Africa as a very risky continent to invest. "The barrier for business between Africa and the US was no longer the Atlantic Ocean or the distance but the problem of perception.

Often times, Africa is seen as a country rather than a continent and a problem in one country is easily generalised to paint the negative picture of the whole continent," he noted. The president noted that this was not the case with Asia where the media promoted a positive image of Africa.

"That's why there is increasing Asian private business and investment in Africa today than it was a decade ago," he added.

Mr Kikwete told the gathering that today's Africa was completely different from that of five decades ago when its countries got independence... or even that of a decade ago. Africa, he said, was no longer seen as a dark continent but one that was full of hope.

The president said many African countries had undertaken economic reforms with most governments embracing trade liberalisation and market-driven policies, which had enabled them to register strong macro-economic performance.

He pointed out that it was because of such positive development that the story of Africa's century had been widely celebrated across the globe, with partnership between the continent and big economies of the world increasing significantly.

"For over a decade, we have witnessed France-Africa, UK-Africa, India-Africa, Brazil-Africa, China-Africa, Japan-Africa, Turkey- Africa, Kuwait-Africa, Iran- Africa and EU-Africa.

And now we are here for the US-Africa summit," he said. He added that the interesting thing to note is that in all these partnerships, the agenda for trade and private sector cooperation features very prominently.