Dodoma eyes more Luanda investment

DAR ES SALAAM: THE Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) hosted a delegation of eight investors from Angola interested in investing in the agriculture, manufacturing, construction and mining sectors.

The delegation opened new chapter that shows Tanzania efforts to attract more investment from Angola.

TIC’s Domestic Investment Promotion Manager, Mr Felix John, told reporters on Monday in Dar es Salaam that the centre aimed to increase engagement with Angolan investors through visits like this, starting with the current one.

“Our expectation this year is that we will register more investment projects from Angola. We aim to double that number and possibly triple it, or even increase it tenfold,” Mr John said, adding: “We view Africa as a whole as a strategic source of investment markets, with Angola being an important part of that.”

Currently there is only one project registered under the centre from Angola venturing in tourism sector.

“Nevertheless, the discussions with the delegation, led by CEOs from Angola’s major firms, familiarised them with the procedures for registering projects in Tanzania through the TIC.

He assured the investors of returns upon investing in the country there are number of fiscal incentives under a new law which was passed two years ago.

The fiscal incentives include enjoying import duty-free for capital goods such as machines and plant for projects expansion and rehabilitation.

Also, the deemed capital good can access the import duty relief by 75 per cent while enjoying nonfiscal incentives including protection of their capitals under the TIC.

More significantly, he said one stop facilitation centre houses about 16 government entities necessary for projects’ registration from which an investor can spend only 24 hours to obtain the TIC certificate for undertaking business in the country.

TEGMAS Group’s Executive Admin, Mr Ariclene Gomes said he was delighted with their visit in Tanzania as it helped them explore economic opportunities.

“We had a very warm welcome and we are here prepared to work with a lot of Tanzanian companies to foster economic growth.

“I heard there is only one company from Angola that is investing here. We are here to create a big impact,” Mr Gomes said.

The delegation were interested in venturing in agriculture, health, tourism, hospitality, construction and manufacturing.

Mr Gomes said in Tanzania there is a huge potential in agriculture and tourism which made them choose it as their investment destination.

According to the United Nations COMTRADE, Tanzania’s exports to Angola was 2.66 million US dollar (7.0bn/-) in 2023 while Angola’s exports to Tanzania stood at 1.08 million US dollar (about 3bn/-).