Samia sets goal of attracting $1 billion in Indonesian investment

Jakarta. President Samia Suluhu Hassan wants Tanzania to attract $1 billion in investment from Indonesia.

Speaking during the Indonesia-Tanzania Investment and Business Forum in Jakarta on Thursday, she tasked her lieutenants with raising the value of Indonesian investments in Tanzania to $1 billion in the shortest time possible.

This is an uphill task as Indonesia is not even on Tanzania’s list of top ten sources of investment.

Briefing the media on President Hassan’s visit to Indonesia in Dar es Salaam last Sunday,  Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation minister January Makamba said Indonesian investments in Tanzania were in five projects worth Sh6.5 billion (about $2.5 million) in agriculture, industrial production and construction.

Thursday’s forum was held on the second day of President Hassan’s three-day state visit to Indonesia, which ends on Friday.

She said Tanzania’s political stability, advantageous geographical location and a conducive investment environment made the country an attractive destination for investment.

“Private investment in Tanzania is protected by law and we have investment protection and promotion agreements with a number of countries. We are currently negotiating one with the Republic of Indonesia,” President Hassan said.

Another factor is the existing political will and ease of doing business in Tanzania, where the government values the role of the private sector as the driver of growth.

“The fifth factor is Tanzania’s stable macroeconomic and fiscal regime,” the Head of State added.

Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) executive director Gilead Teri said TIC hoped that the target set by President Hassan would be reached by 2028.

“It’s a good and significant responsibility since we understand that when capital comes into Tanzania, Tanzanians get jobs, we get new taxpayers, generate revenue and produce goods for export.

“Even before the President issued this directive, we at TIC had already seen Indonesia an as important source of investment,” Mr Teri said.

A TIC delegation visited three Indonesian cities last December and as part of efforts to attract more investment from Indonesia.

Mr Makamba said last Sunday that while Tanzania’s exports to Indonesia totalled Sh64.76 billion, imports stood at Sh237.83 billion.

He emphasised at Thursday’s forum that Indonesia was an important partner to Tanzania, with the two countries having maintained cordial diplomatic relations for six decades.

“This is the third visit to Indonesia by a Tanzanian president. The first one was in 1971 and the second was in 1987,” Mr Makamba said, adding that President Hassan’s state visit was of historic significance

The Minister of State in the President’s Office (Planning and Investment), Prof Kitila Mkumbo, also underscored the significance of economic diplomacy with Indonesia, which is Southeast Asia’s biggest economy and among the world’s fastest growing.

“Indonesia is among only 19 countries in the world with a GDP of more than $1 trillion,” he said.

Tanzania and Indonesia on Thursday signed seven memorandums of understanding (MoUs), including an agreement on cooperation in the blue economy, agriculture and mining.

Another MoU was on diplomatic capacity building signed between the two countries’ foreign affairs ministries.

Agreements were also signed between the Tanzania Trade Development Authority (Tantrade) and PT Perusahaan Perdagangan Indonesia; University of Dar es Salaam and Institute TeknologiBandung, and the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA) and Zanzibar National Chamber of Commerce (ZNCC) on the one side and the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) on the other.

President Hassan’s visit, her first to Indonesia and first foreign trip in 2024, reciprocates Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s state visit to Tanzania last August.

President Widodo said during joint press briefing at the Bogor Presidential Palace earlier on Thursday that the two countries were committed to fostering cooperation in trade, investment and health.

He added that he expects Tanzania to participate at the Indonesia-Africa Forum II that was meant to enhance South-South economic cooperation.