Tanzania, Mozambique pledge renewed efforts to boost ties

Dar es Salaam. Tanzania and Mozambique have inked two security related agreements as they seek to strengthen ties and boost trade and investment between their two countries.

The signing, witnessed by President Samia Suluhu Hassan who is currently on a State Visit to Mozambique and her Mozambican counterpart Filipe Nyusi, details how the two countries will work together in areas of defense and security as well as in search and rescue operations.

The two leaders believe that when they foster security through their joint operations, they will be able to enhance trade between their people.

With insecurity in the Cabo Delgado Province of Mozambique where militants are fighting government forces in their attempt to establish an Islamic state in the region, trade between the neighbouring country and Tanzania has gone down.

Available data shows that the value of Tanzania’s exports to Mozambique has dropped by 73.7 percent during the past four years of insurgency in the Cabo Delgado Province.

Data from the United Nations Comtrade database on international trade shows that Tanzania’s exports to Mozambique have fallen from $59 million in 2018 to $15.5 million in 2021.

Similarly, imports have fallen by up to 80 percent during the past four years due to displacement of people and insecurity, dropping from $25 million in 2018 to $5 million in 2021.

But this could soon become a thing of the past as Presidents Hassan and Nyusi seek to put things in order and boost trade between the two countries. Speaking during a joint press briefing with President Nyusi, President Hassan said the two countries were working together to maintain security, especially in the fight against terrorism. The two countries are also home to commercially-viable natural gas reserves.

“As you know these countries share a long border line and therefore, we need to cooperate in order to protect our borders…,” he said.

She said more efforts were needed to boost trade between the two countries.

The countries, she said, have agreed to see how they can utilize the available opportunities in areas of investment, trading, agriculture, fisheries and mining.

She said most African countries were trading more with European and Asian countries while intra-African trade remains low.

As such, she said, the two leaders had agreed to see how to establish a good foundation for the facilitation of trading in products that are produced within their two nations.

“There are Mozambican companies in Tanzania more need to come in. We want to increase the number of investors so as to increase business relations…,” she said.

The two leaders, President Hassan said, also discussed ways of improving education.

In this matter, they agreed on a possibility of exchanging professionals in higher learning education and in the promotion of Kiswahili to ease communication between people in Mozambique and Tanzania.

In his remarks, President Nyusi said the visit was meant to strengthen diplomatic relations between the two countries in areas of security and peace in borders.

According to President Nyusi, the two agreements will touch on areas of human and drug trafficking, adding that Tanzania has been on the forefront in helping Mozambique’s fight against terrorism in the boarder.

Like other countries regionally and globally, President Nyusi said Mozambique has been going through some challenging economic times due to various factors, including climate change and the ongoing Ukraine war.

“That is why we believe by strengthening our trade and investment ties, we can do better,” he said.