OTR, China agencies deepen state asset cooperation

DAR ES SALAAM: TANZANIA is set to deepen cooperation with China in state asset management after the Office of the Treasury Registrar (OTR) announced plans to finalise two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with Chinese institutions focusing on technical cooperation, research and capacity building.

The MoUs, between OTR and China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and the China Enterprise Reform and Development Society (CERDS), are expected to be finalised by Friday or Monday. Treasury Registrar Nehemiah Mchechu said the OTR-SASAC

agreement would establish continuous technical exchanges, while the OTRCERDS agreement would focus on research and capacity building. He said the agreements would strengthen cooperation in research, institutional capacity building, policy development, governance reforms and performance evaluation.

Mr Mchechu made the remarks yesterday during a bilateral meeting between OTR and SASAC at the OTR offices in Dar es Salaam, attended by officials from OTR, SASAC and CERDS, Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian and senior officials from the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) and Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL).

He said Tanzania sought to draw on China’s experience in state asset supervision, governance reforms, market-oriented state-owned enterprise (SOE) reforms and improving the quality and efficiency of state capital.

“Through our bilateral relationship with SASAC, we seek to learn how China successfully restructured and concentrated state capital into key strategic sectors to drive national economic growth,” he said.

OTR currently supervises 308 public entities, comprising 252 majorityowned and 56 minority owned institutions.

President of CERDS Peng Huagang said China’s experience showed that SOEs could pursue national strategic objectives while operating according to market principles.

“State-owned enterprise reform does not mean making SOEs smaller or eliminating them; the goal is to make SOEs stronger, better, and world-class market entities,” Mr Peng said.

He said market-oriented reforms were central to improving SOE competitiveness, while specialised state asset supervision was needed to safeguard public wealth while giving enterprises operational autonomy.

Mr Peng said the partnership also provided opportunities to support Tanzania’s development priorities under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

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He said FOCAC’s 10 partnership actions aligned with Dira 2050 and presented opportunities for cooperation in transport, infrastructure, the digital economy and clean energy.

He identified the revitalisation of the Tanzania, Zambia Railway (TAZARA) and expansion of Dar es Salaam Port as areas with potential to unlock wider economic opportunities by connecting transport infrastructure with mining, agriculture, logistics and industrial centres.

The meeting also explored practical areas where Tanzanian and Chinese public enterprises could cooperate.

Tanzania Ports Authority Acting Director General Dr Boniphace Nobeji said improving port performance and efficiency would have an impact beyond Tanzania.

“We believe that prosperity of any nation comes from trade and most trade is facilitated by efficient ports,” he said.

Dr Nobeji identified dry-port development, technology transfer, capacity building and benchmarking Chinese port management practices as potential areas of cooperation.

TRC Director General Eng Machibya Shiwa highlighted investment opportunities in freight logistics terminals, private freight operations, railway industrial parks and multimodal logistics hubs.

He also proposed public-private partnerships to construct power transmission lines along railway corridors, with investors recovering their costs through tariffs linked to cargo transported.

ATCL Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer John Nzunda identified aviation logistics, joint maintenance engineering, digital technologies, fuel management and specialised aviation staff training as potential areas of cooperation with Chinese SOEs.