HUNGARY : VICE-PRESIDENT Dr Philip Mpango has asked the diaspora to continue promoting Tanzania, including attracting investors to explore available investment opportunities in various sectors in the country.
Dr Mpango made the call on Friday evening when he met and held talks with the community of Tanzanians living in Hungary, including those who are pursuing studies in the central European nation.
The Vice-President said it’s high time the diaspora continued promoting the country, including taking advantage of the existing investment opportunities in the country since President Samia Suluhu Hassan has already opened up the country.
“I would like to encourage the diaspora to not only continue promoting Tanzania and attracting investors but also grab the available investment opportunities in various sectors in the country,” Dr Mpango emphasised.
In particular, Dr Mpango also called upon Tanzanians living outside the country to realise that the first responsibility for building the country lies in Tanzanians themselves, adding they should contribute in any way for the development of the nation.
More so, VP also implored the diaspora to take advantage of Kiswahili, which is now among the top 10 widely spoken languages in the world, by continuing promoting the language and establishing learning centres for the foreigners to learn it.
“Kiswahili language is now used in various regional blocs as an official language, the diaspora should promote the language in a number of ways, including establishing Kiswahili learning centres in the areas where they are located,” he underlined.
Dr Mpango said the government, under President Samia, will continue to bring reforms to improve lives of all Tanzanians, adding that the government has been improving health, water, education and energy sectors, as well as communication and transport infrastructure such as railways, airports and roads.
“The government is continuing to strengthen agricultural sector by introducing programmes such as Building a Better Tomorrow (BBT), an initiative meant to attract young people to engage in agribusiness,” he said.
Moreover, he said the government is taking note of the increasing country’s population, saying efforts are being made to invest in strengthening human capital so that it properly contributes in the country’s development.
In a related development, Dr Mpango commended the community of Tanzanians living in Hungary as well as the Tanzania’s diplomatic office for the support they offered in evacuating Tanzanians who were living and studying in Ukraine immediately after the Russia -Ukraine conflict broke out.
Dr Mpango requested them to remain united and cooperate at all times and have a heart of compassion and love as some of them sacrificed their lives and other resources to help Tanzanians who were leaving the war zone.
The VP also urged Tanzanians living in Hungary to ensure that they adhere to country’s laws and refrain from committing criminal acts that can tarnish Tanzania’s image.
On his party, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Ambassador Mbarouk Nassor Mbarouk said despite promoting and maintaining friendly and diplomatic relations between Tanzania and other countries, the government has also continued to fully coordinate diaspora issues.
He said the docket established a digital diaspora registration system (the Diaspora Digital Hub System (DDH)), a system that helps to identify the statistics of Tanzanians living outside the country.
Ambassador Mbarouk said that data available in DDH enables the government to plan and prepare accurately for diaspora’s needs such as banking services, passports, national ID cards.
On his side, Chairman of the Association of Tanzanian Students Studying in Hungary, Michael Matonya thanked the government for funding students studying in the nation whose main exports are machinery and transport equipment, consumer goods, agricultural products, chemicals, apparel, textiles, iron and steel, and wine.
He asked the government to allocate more students to study in Hungary, especially in strategic fields of science and technology.
He also called on the government to cooperate more with Hungary in areas that the European nation is excelling such as computer science, IT, engineering, aviation, health, plant and animal education.