ZANZIBAR: ZANZIBAR Minister of State, President’s Office (Labour, Economy and Investments) Mr Sharif Ali Sharif has underscored that the ‘Tanzania/ Zanzibar-Belgium Forum’ held here is among the preliminary results of President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s visit to Belgium this year.
“We hope to reap more from Samia’s trip overseas. We have a delegation from Belgium that has to explore investment opportunities in Zanzibar and Mainland,” said Mr Sharif at the forum held here this week.
He said that during her visit to Belgium, President Samia and her delegation held talks with potential investors from the European country, promising to come and explore investment opportunities in Tanzania, “They have made similar meetings in Mainland.” Mr Sharif explained that their discussions with senior officers from both the private sector and government of Belgium focused on different areas including energy (solar and wind), logistics (transportation, projects in tourism, and other areas in the blue economy.
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“The Belgium delegation accompanied by their ambassador to Tanzania Mr Peter Huyghebaert expressed interest to invest in various areas in our country. Let us hope for the best in the near future,” the Minister told journalists on the sideline of the forum.
Mr Ivan Korsak- Head of the delegation said in his brief speech “We are happy to be here in Tanzania, to see and learn about available investment opportunities to invest. We thank President Samia for inviting us.” The Zanzibar-Belgium forum include B2B (business to business) and networking followed by site visits as the Executive Director of Zanzibar Investments Promotion Authority (ZIPA) Mr Saleh Saad Mohamed thanked both Dr Samia and President Hussein Mwinyi for opening Tanzania to investors.
“Having investors in our country means a lot to our economic growth. It includes jobs. We already have eleven projects in Zanzibar by Belgium investors. We hope to have job opportunities after they invest,” said Mohamed.
Executive Director of Zanzibar National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) Mr Hamad Hamad said “the delegation from Belgium includes experts in the construction industry. This is a blessing to our country.
We hope their response will be positive.” Ms Jestas Abouk Nyamanga, Tanzania ambassador to Belgium also thanked both Dr Samia and Dr Mwinyi for their ongoing reforms that include infrastructure development and promoting economic diplomacy.
