Tanzania’s Minister of Overseas Affairs and Cooperation, Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, is visiting the UK on 8 September 2025 to strengthen commerce and diplomatic relations, because the East African nation goals to realize a $1 trillion financial system by 2050. He explains why this seemingly formidable purpose is inside attain.
Subsequent week will mark my first official go to to the UK as Tanzania’s Minister of Overseas Affairs and East African Cooperation. It comes at a pivotal second for our nation. Tanzania has set itself a daring mission: to develop from an financial system value £88 billion immediately to at least one value £1 trillion by mid-century, with per capita revenue rising from £1,250 to £7,000.
The dimensions of this ambition is evident. However so is our technique: financial diplomacy. Tanzania’s overseas coverage is now firmly targeted on mobilising funding, increasing commerce, adopting know-how and creating jobs. On this enterprise, the UK stays considered one of our closest companions.
Our relationship with the UK goes again greater than 60 years, to independence. This bond is rooted in our membership of the Commonwealth, nevertheless it has been revitalised in recent times by means of agreements such because the Partnership for Mutual Prosperity, which focuses on commerce, funding, local weather motion, schooling and good governance.
This partnership, which goals to unlock £1 billion of UK government-backed funding in Tanzania by 2030, in addition to £300 million of UK personal sector funding, is already bearing fruit. Commerce and funding between our two nations is on the rise, with horticultural exports specifically benefiting from new entry to UK markets.
Cooperation within the area of essential minerals can also be underway. As provide chains for strategic minerals come below elevated scrutiny, British Worldwide Funding and different companions are exploring alternatives to course of Tanzanian uncommon earths, that are important for the manufacture of electrical automobiles and wind generators.
The UK has additionally contributed to the implementation of a serious infrastructure funding programme throughout Tanzania. UK Export Finance is supporting us in constructing roads in Zanzibar and different transport initiatives that open up new commerce routes to neighbouring landlocked nations.
Residence to a number of the world’s most necessary biodiversity, Tanzania welcomes massive numbers of British vacationers, lecturers, scientists and conservationists to the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro and the Ngorongoro Crater yearly. The ensuing academic hyperlinks are actually being inspired in each instructions, with Tanzanians benefiting from the Chevening programme (a global scholarship that permits overseas college students to check at British universities) and Commonwealth scholarships to check at British universities.
As we strengthen our local weather resilience and transition to scrub power options, joint analysis partnerships in areas equivalent to clear cooking applied sciences are already having a major affect on individuals’s lives.
On the similar time, as instability has elevated in nations equivalent to Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo, safety cooperation with the UK has strengthened our skill to fight terrorism, dismantle organised crime and enhance maritime safety.
These achievements present that the connection between the UK and Tanzania isn’t just symbolic. They’re a supply of jobs, expertise, resilience and safety for either side.
Imaginative and prescient 2050
So as to realise our Imaginative and prescient 2050 of a trillion-dollar financial system, Tanzania has redefined the position of its diplomatic missions overseas. Not restricted to protocol features, embassies are actually hubs for commerce and funding. Diplomats are tasked with negotiating commerce agreements, securing financing, attracting vacationers and even creating employment alternatives overseas for Tanzanians.
Nevertheless, Britain and Europe should recognise that competitors for financial partnerships in Africa is intensifying. Asian and Center Jap economies equivalent to China, India, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar have performed a central position in flagship initiatives which have remodeled Tanzania’s competitiveness. The Julius Nyerere hydroelectric energy plant, the usual gauge railway and the Magufuli Bridge are all examples of strategic partnerships that can form Tanzania’s financial future into the twenty first century.
With a median age of simply 17, Tanzania has one of many youngest and most dynamic populations in Africa. Schooling and expertise growth are important to arrange this era for the calls for of an industrialised financial system.
The financial empowerment of girls is central to this effort. Beneath the management of Samia Suluhu Hassan, our nation’s first feminine head of state, girls are rising to management positions in diplomacy, authorities and enterprise. Gender parity isn’t just an aspiration, it’s a strategic benefit.
The preliminary outcomes are encouraging: exports have doubled in simply 4 years, from $8 billion to almost $17 billion. Tourism, as soon as devastated by Covid-19, has rebounded strongly. Overseas buyers, reassured by Tanzania’s stability and pragmatic reforms, are returning with confidence.
This new strategy, already dubbed ‘Samia-nomics’, combines openness, partnership and industrial ambition.
Sceptics might ponder whether a trillion-dollar financial system is inside attain. However with regular development, sound governance and worldwide partnerships, this purpose is achievable. East Asia has proven the world what sustained ambition can obtain.
To our companions within the UK, my message is that this: Tanzania is open, prepared and decided. Collectively, we are able to develop bilateral commerce and funding, deepen cooperation in schooling, innovation and analysis, and construct on the long-standing cultural ties that unite our nations.
Tanzania is on its strategy to changing into an financial big in Africa. The UK has been a trusted associate on this journey. As we stay up for 2050, we invite Britain – and the entire world – to hitch us in shaping a way forward for mutual prosperity.
