TanTrade: International trade forums pay off

TANZANIA: TANZANIA Trade Development Authority (TanTrade) says trade forums are paying off due to their contribution in wooing domestic and international investors to determine the best investment options.

The forums, according to TanTrade, are acting as platforms like markets where sellers and buyers meet and enter into an agreement—so ultimately, it’s like the forces of supply and demand that, in this case, determine the best investment criteria modalities.

Thus, TanTrade Director General Latifa Khamis said in pursuit of supporting SMEs they are committed to organising trade forums to bring together major investors from various African countries to enable locals and foreigners to learn key investment areas.

“TanTrade leads these efforts intending to facilitate trade between Tanzania and other African countries.

“Like today [Sunday] we organised Tanzania and Egypt forum. Forums like this help exchange knowledge and explore new opportunities for sustaiable business,” Ms Khamis told Business Standard.

She said for instance DarCairo forum held in Dar es Salaam achieved its goal of strengthening strategic trade partnerships between the two.

Also, the investment forums are platforms to increase while bridging the trade imbalance to enable the country to cash in on exports. Furthermore, Ms Khamis noted that on the Sunday forum investors and traders from Egypt have shown interest in investing in infrastructure and healthcare sectors. Among the strategic areas where both Tanzanian investors and SMEs are currently focusing on are agricultural products.

Ms Khamis said some of the agricultural products that Tanzania exported to Egypt in 2023/24 include coffee, tea, cotton, coconuts and cashew nuts.

Thus, such forums plus other government efforts push Dar exports to Cairo by 6.0 per cent in 2023/24 in comparison to the previous year.

“Our efforts have borne fruit,” Ms Khamis said adding “Our goal is to increase exports and not just to import.” TanTrade efforts to support the SMEs sector in the first seven months of this fiscal year include organising trade missions and business meetings in different African countries such as South Africa, Congo, South Sudan and Malawi.

Over the past 26 years, Tanzania has been exporting various products to Egypt, including machinery worth 773,000 US dollars and agricultural products such as tea, coconuts, Brazil nuts and cashew nuts worth 616,000 US dollars.

During this period, according to OEC World, there has been an annualised increase in exports of 3.75 per cent from 1.96 million US dollars in 1995 to 5.08 million US dollars in 2021.

The primary mission of TanTrade is to enhance the country’s economic performance by developing and promoting goods and services for both local and international markets.

Confederation of Tanzania Industry (CTI) Membership Development Manager Neema Mhondo said that agricultural products constitute a significant portion of Tanzania’s exports to Egypt.

Ms Mhondo said products such as cotton, coffee, tea, cashew nuts, and others are the main contributors to the diverse range of products sold in Egypt from Tanzania.

She further said Tanzania’s industrial sector is also a strong competitor in the East African region in producing and selling agricultural products, plastic products and foods and beverages. Ms Mhondo pointed out Bakhresa Company as one of the top performers in the production and supply of food and beverages in neighbouring countries.

The Tanzania-Egypt forum was designed to convene people from the agriculture sector, manufacturing, medicine, chemicals and mining sectors.

The forum attracted among other people the Ambassador of Egypt to Tanzania Sheriff Ismail, Executive Director of Tanzania Investment Commission (TIC) Gelead Terry and a team of potential investors from both Tanzania and Egypt.