Israel ready to fork out $1bn grant to Tanzania

What you need to know:

Last year, Tanzania opened its embassy in Tel Aviv, Israel, to become the 15th African state to establish full diplomatic ties with the Middle East nation. Israel says will soon open its mission in Dar es Salaam to strengthening bilateral and diplomatic relations between the two counties. In this interview with The Citizen Reporter Alawi Masare, Israel ambassador to Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi and Seychelles, Mr Noah Gal Gendler speaks on the importance of the relationship and how the country can benefit from it.

This is a very tragic story because between 1967 and 1973, all African states– except Malawi, Swaziland and South Africa - cut relations with Israel. Those days Israel had 32 missions and you know, for a small country like ours it was a huge investment. Later on, one by one started restoring relations, and today we have 11 embassies including the one launched in Rwanda some two months ago. Those historical circumstances prevented us from having an embassy here but it is our priority to establish the mission here. It can take some time but it’s our priority. It is a process because you need money as well as human resources. In fact, last year we closed seven embassies in the world but we plan one in Tanzania. Rwanda is also a very unique case. It was not our problem; it is history that necessitated the situation.