EPZA: Innovation is key to boosting productivity

TANGA: THE Export Processing Zones Authority (EPZA) has said innovation is an integral part of increasing productivity of the industrial sector which is fundamental in driving up economic growth.

EPZA Director General Charles Itembe said recently that it is time innovation and research focused on creating a linkage between industrial and agricultural sectors.

“Innovation and various researches carried out by our experts in the country must aim at boosting productivity in processing raw materials produced locally, especially in the agricultural and industrial sectors,” he said at the justended Technology and Innovation Exhibitions held in Tanga.

He said many developed countries started with research on how to process their domestic products instead of relying on foreign technology alone.

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EPZA is an institution that has many roles including the attraction of new technology, especially in the industrial sector to enable the country to sell in the international market and increase foreign exchange earnings.

He said the exhibition was important in the revolution of the industrial sector, as the technologies showcased are meant to meet the goals and wishes of the country’s development agenda.

Mr Itembe urged investors to take advantage of Special Economic Zones (SEZ) and Export Processing Zones (EPZ) programmes to produce and process goods for domestic and international markets.

Some of the sectors with huge potential which investors can capitalise on through the SEZ and EPZ programmes are agriculture, mining, energy, forestry, garment and steel.