Could you give us an insight on the characteristics of the political and economic development of Tanzania in the last couples of years?
On the political side, the country has now for seven years been under the multi party democracy. We had our first elections under this system in 1995 in which CCM won both parliament and presidential elections. Since then we have been developing quite well our multi party democratic system. We are going to have our second elections this year and we don't anticipate any serious problems for the election process. Politically we have undergone quite significant changes of information as we have reformed our political system.
Economically we have also been carrying many reforms. We have been going on with our privatisation and a lot of our enterprises have been privatised. We are about 70% privatised now. There have been other economic reforms, institutional reforms, in the investment sectors. This reforms have been a great success, especially in the micro economic parameters we have done quite well. Our inflation has gone down from nearly 30% in 1995 to about 6% now. Our collection of taxes has also increase considerably, we have doubled the tax revenues and a lot of indicators have shown very clearly that we are now in very good terms with the IMF and the World Bank and the donor community. They all appreciate very much the different steps the government has taken in the economic recovery. We also attract more and more foreign investors, and all these factors are clear indicators that our policies have worked.
Within this economic and political development, what are the main responsibilities of the Prime Ministers office here in Tanzania?
The Prime Ministers office is the coordinator of all government activities and therefore it is a head prefect since we oversee all the other departments and ministries in the way they operate and therefore my office is also a key area that gives direction in terms of setting priorities for the different ministries. In a way the Prime Minister guides other ministries on the policies and on the prioritisation of government functions as it has been agreed by the cabinet.
With the effects of the liberalisation of the economy and the globalisation , what is the government focusing on in order to adjust Tanzania to this new environment?
I don't think that the globalisation is something we can escape from, so we have to make sure that we enter into this new environment and benefit from it. We make sure that we have the right tools to enter a globalisation and that means that we need goods to sell in the market, therefore we are promoting industrialization and we are trying to attract foreign investors to boost the economy so that we can compete on a global level.
The government set up this new concept of a "single stop shop centre" to decrease red tape. Can you tell us more about this new concept?
The single stop shop centre is a concept which exists in other countries. What we are trying to establish, is a kind of a house whereby when an investor comes, he doesn't have to travel all over the town looking for all the ministries and departments that are concerned in his investment. He should find everything under that one roof. All the necessary people that are needed to go through the various documents with, are all under that one roof. The licensing people who are under the ministry of Industries and Trade are all there and handle it all in one go. In the past if you wanted to invest in Tanzania, you had to go to the ministry of industries and trade looking for licenses, you had to go to the ministry of home affairs looking for immigration facilities and to the minister of labour and youth and development for work permits and so many other ministries. What we are trying to establish is to bring all these people under one roof so that when an investor comes, he will hand over his papers and people will analyse the project and if they think it is a good project, the handling of the paperwork will be done in that house and the investor will be told when to come and collect his completed papers. This is the clearing house for investors and we have now built a new building for that purpose.
| Infrastructure supports economic growth. Can you tell us about major infrastructure projects that are being undertaken at present and what are the areas that need the most investment?
Infrastructure is quite a serious problem in our country but there has been quite a substantial development in the near past. The major infrastructure projects that are already taken place are the harbour, which is a very important entry point for business. We are privatising part of the Dar es Salaam harbour on a consessional basis and we hope that when this new investor comes in he will put a lot of improvement and efficiency into the harbour through his experience and financial muscle. We have also leased out one airport on a coinsessional basis, the Kilimanjaro airport. We hope that there will be a lot of face lift of that airport. We are working quite seriously on the roads as well because being an agricultural country, you need the roads to bring in inputs and to take out the produce. Tanzania is also a country that serves a lot of neighbouring countries. That is why we need good transport links to clear the goods to these countries. We are doing a lot of developments on the roads. We are talking to the world Bank and the EU and the African Development Bank. They have now shown very clearly that they are in support of assisting and giving us loans to built some of the important roads. When these roads are completed it will really help in the process of economic development. We are also trying to open some new avenues for example the "Southern Corridor", which was not very active for a long time. We are now activating it and we formed the Mutuara Development Corridor and a lot of people have shown interest. This project will also develop the Mutuara port which is the deepest natural port that we have at the Eastern coast of the Indian Ocean. The corridor is developed by Zambia, Mozambique and Malawi and when it is completed, we will have another big development in that area. There are a lot of resources that need to be exploited and the corridor will help us to create an important economic development area. We have coal, natural gas, and much more. We are also privatising our telecommunication company and that will bring more efficiency into the company because investors coming in need efficient telecommunication.
The year 2000 is a very important year for Tanzania since you have elections this year. Can you tell us what your future outlooks are and what you think will change when the opposition comes to power?
I only hope that the good things that we have done will not be disrupted by whoever comes into power. We have tried to set in a foundation for economic development. The most difficult part is almost over. All that is acquired now is a stable government that will proceed with the policies and a government that will attract foreign investment into the country, so that we can build on the foundation that we have already established. I am still very optimistic that CCM will win again.
What would be your final message to our readers, who are potential investors and who might want to come to Tanzania to invest?
We as a country are determined to make sure that the country changes for the better. We want to see sustainable development and to attain this we invite and welcome investors from all over the world to invest in any of our economic sectors which all offer huge potential. We want to assure the investors that we are a serious government and our people are very friendly. We are doing our best to do the necessary changes in our policies especially in the investment areas. We are open for dialog to see in what areas we can make the conditions better. We are a peaceful country which is rare in Africa and we are very proud of that. We have always tried our best to keep our peace and stability. We want to continue with our political reforms that are already in place so that we keep a strong multi party democracy in the future. |
