PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan has congratulated Liz Truss on her appointment as new Britain’s Prime Minister.
President Samia said Tanzania is looking forward to continuing its strong long-time friendship with the UK in fostering our economic and diplomatic relations.
The Head of State shared her congratulatory remarks on Wednesday on her verified Twitter handle @SuluhuSamia and Instagram account Samia_Suluhu_Hassan, where she also promised to strengthen the existing ties between the two sides.
“My heartfelt congratulations to @trussliz on becoming the new Leader of the Conservative party and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Tanzania is looking forward to continuing its strong long-time friendship with the UK in fostering our economic and diplomatic relations,” reads her post.
The 47-year-old won the ruling Conservative Party’s leadership contest on Monday, replacing Boris Johnson.
According to PwC Tanzania, inbound investment from the UK, with whom Tanzania has a bilateral investment agreement, has always been strong.
Indeed, recent statistics from the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) put cumulative investments from the UK since 1990 at 5.42 billion US dollars.
As to the state of the current trading relationship, the latest trade and investment factsheet on Tanzania from the UK’s Department of International Trade shows total trade in goods and services (exports plus imports) between the UK and Tanzania of £218 million in the year to June 2021.
Apart from President Samia, other African leaders who congratulated the new UK prime Minister included Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Yoweri Museveni (Uganda) and Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia.
The Ugandan President Mr Museveni said his country was looking forward to working closely with Ms Liz Truss on the issues of Trade, Investment, Tourism and Anti-terrorism.
“This is to congratulate the Rt. Hon. @trussliz for being appointed as the new Prime Minister of the UK. After decolonization, we have always had good working relations with the UK & by extension the Commonwealth,” read part of his tweet.
According to President Museveni, the mentioned areas of cooperation were equally encouraged by the outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
“The Rt.Hon. Boris Johnson has been encouraging investments in Uganda and other Commonwealth countries. The big airport at Kabaale near Hoima, built with British funds, is one such example,” he said on his post,
Adding; “By coincidence, I had the honour to sit next to and engage with the new Prime Minister whenever her predecessor walked out for side meetings”.
Also, the President Kagame of Rwanda said in a tweet that Kigali forward to further strengthening their existing close ties with the UK.
“Congratulations @trussliz on your election as Prime Minister of the UK. We look forward to further strengthening the existing close ties between the UK and Rwanda and wish you success,” he said.
For his part, the President of Zambia Hakainde Hichilema said Zambia and UK enjoys strong bilateral and cultural ties, and that they are looking forward to further strengthening to benefit the two nations.
“Warm congratulations to Rt. Hon. Elizabeth Truss MP, new leader of the British Conservative Party, and next Prime Minister of the #UK. Zambia and the UK enjoy strong bilateral & cultural ties, which we look forward to further strengthening to benefit our 2 nations & peoples. @trussliz,” read his tweet.
Liz Truss became the United Kingdom’s new prime minister on Tuesday, succeeding Boris Johnson, who resigned in July after a series of scandals.
Truss, 47, defeated rival Rishi Sunak in the Conservative Party leadership contest, and she followed Margaret Thatcher and Theresa May to become Britain’s third female premier.
