Past events (July. 5)
>>Consultation on economic cooperation between Tanzania and Japan
On July 5 2013, the first meeting of Consultation on Economic Cooperation between Tanzania and Japan was held in Dar es Salaam.
The delegation of Tanzania was led by Dr. Philip Mpango, Executive Secretary of the Planning Commission, and high level participants from 11 ministries, as well as Zanzibar, participated. The delegation of Japan was led by Mr. Masaki Okada, Ambassador of Japan to Tanzania, and comprised of responsible officials from the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in Tokyo and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) in Tokyo, members of the Embassy and of the JICA office in Dar es Salaam.
After introductions by both delegations, Ambassador Okada explained the basic consideration of Japan for having proposed a new and more effective formula of consultation for economic cooperation; namely Tanzania should first coordinate and prioritize its requests for assistance projects to be undertaken by Japan, based on its national development plan, thereby taking into account the comparative advantage of Japan’s assistance and its limit in financial and human resources. On the basis of a unified request from Tanzania, a concrete plan for the year ahead will be discussed and decided through consultative meetings.
Ms. Yoshiko Kijima, Director, Ministry for Foreign Affairs in charge of Japan's assistance to Tanzania, explained Japan's assistance policy for Tanzania with its three priority areas; economic growth towards poverty reduction, infrastructure development sustaining economic growth and poverty reduction, and improvement of public services to all citizens.
Dr. Mpango then described the status of economic cooperation between Tanzania and Japan and summarized that there are still great opportunities of increasing both trade and investment for mutual benefit. Dr. Mpango further explained about key national priority areas under the Five Year Development Plan, MKUKUTA II / MKUZA and Big Results Now, and the aspiration of Tanzania to graduate to middle income status by 2025. He paraphrased the words of Prime Minister Abe of Japan and said "Together with Tanzania, Japan will prosper. Together with Japan, Tanzania will thrive."
After having made a concrete assessment of ongoing cooperation, representatives of the Tanzanian ministries and agencies explained their requests for the future. The Japanese side underlined how Tanzania is given a high priority in its cooperation policy. For instance, assistance to Tanzania to increase its rice production is one of the Japan’s three priority agricultural programs in Africa. Japan has been making utmost efforts in transferring its know-how and technologies in paddy field rice production, as well as the planning and maintenance of irrigation facilities, in order to benefit the vast majority of the Tanzanian small holder farmers, so that Tanzania will be the leading country and center for rice production in Africa. The Japanese side further emphasized the importance it attaches to its assistance programs in promoting Tanzania's development, as well as trade and investment between Tanzania and Japan. Ms. Kijima also set forth several important and practical tips to attract Japanese business.
At the end of the four hour meeting, both sides agreed that Tanzanian requests will be coordinated according to priority, and will be unified and proposed to the Japanese side in due course.
Japanese delegation: (from left) Ms. Kijima, Director of MoFA in charge of assistance to Africa, Mr. Okada, Ambassador in Tanzania, and Mr. Onishi, JICA representative in Tanzania
This consultative meeting was a follow up of the summit meeting recently held between President Kikwete and Prime Minister Abe at the occasion of TICAD V in Japan. We are happy that the agreements between the two leaders have been taken care of timely and effectively.
