Ambassador Misawa attended the TANJA Farm opening ceremony

On July 25, Ambassador Misawa traveled to Karatu, Arusha, to attend the opening ceremony of the TANJA Farm, in which Japanese companies are involved in its operation. 

At this farm, the OSTI (see note below), which operates a macadamia nut business in Rwanda, plans to cultivate and process coffee, macadamia nuts, avocados, and tomatoes on a 1,760-hectare coffee farm and adjacent land near the Ngorongoro National Park in northern Tanzania, utilizing IT technologies. This project is based on the "Smart Village" concept, which aims to combine business with contributions to the local community by providing local residents with job opportunities, infrastructure facilities such as renewable energy generation and telecommunications, schools and medical facilities, etc. Several Japanese companies are expected to cooperate in this project to materialize this concept. 

The opening ceremony were attended by Hon. John V. Mongella, Regional Commissioner of Arusha and other regional government officials. They were introduced about TANJA's business, and experienced the processing of coffee beans grown on the farm, and visited the farm. 

In his opening remarks, Ambassador Misawa introduced the long history of cooperation between Arusha and Japan, including the project for Makuyuni-Ngorongoro road rehabilitation and the project for the improvement of display and audiovisual equipment for visitor centre of Ngorongoro conservation area by JICA, as well as supports for school facilities by Japanese NGOs and individuals. Furthermore, Ambassador Misawa hoped that the cooperative relationships both between Japan and Arusha Region, and between Japan and Tanzania would be further deepened through the TANJA Farm project, given that the Embassy of Japan will continue its effort in cooperating with Tanzania to improve the business environment in the country. 

（Note）OSTI（OS Trade and Investment Pte. Ltd.）

OSTI is a group company of AAIC Holdings Pte. Ltd. (HQ: Singapore, Director/CEO: Mr. Tsubaki) whose business activities include investment, company management, and import/export and financing of commodities with a focus on agriculture and the environment. The company established Rwanda Nut Company Ltd. in 2013 to develop its macadamia nut business in Rwanda.