What Samia’s historic visit to India means

President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s four-day state visit to India, which starts on October 8, 2023, takes place as the Asian nation is becoming a global power.

In terms of gross domestic product (GDP), India is now behind only the US, China, Japan, and Germany, and the country’s Prime Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, is bullish that the country has the potential to become the third biggest economy globally by 2027, overtaking both Japan and Germany.

This is why President Hassan’s visit—the first to India by a Tanzanian head of state in eight years—makes sense.

Tanzania, one of Africa’s fastest growing economies, is at a stage where it needs partners like India.

Tanzania needs investment, technology, and employment for its growing population.

The global Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have slowed down its economic growth, which averaged seven percent for over a decade prior to the outbreak of Covid-19. 

India needs raw materials to power its industries, and its private sector is eager to invest abroad.

As The Hindustan newspaper reported last week, the economic slowdown in the US and in Europe means that India's technological giants are now looking more at the Middle East and Africa for new opportunities.

The World Bank also recognises India as the sixth largest global consumer of raw materials, which is good news for country like Tanzania, which boasts an abundance of raw materials such as coal and natural gas.

Tanzania’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Mr. January Makamba, told a news conference in Dar es Salaam on October 5, 2023, that relations between the two countries are historic and cordial and represent a win-win situation for both countries.

Indian Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar told Mr Makamba when they met in New Delhi on October 6, 2023, that bilateral trade between the two countries now stands at $6.4 billion.

Historically, Indians came to trade in Tanzania long before the Europeans and the Chinese.

Travelling on the vast Indian Ocean with the help of Monsoon winds, Indians traded first with Zanzibaris before the Chinese commander Zheng He and the likes of Vasco da Gama and David Livingstone made their East African sojourns.

The stage is now set for the most business-minded foreign trip to India by a Tanzanian head of state.

President Hassan is travelling with a delegation of over 80 Tanzanian businesspeople and will meet with top Indian CEOs and private sector leaders during the visit.

Tanzania has set aside more than 1,000 acres of land near Dar es Salaam, the country’s commercial capital, to cater for incoming Indian investments, according to Mr Makamba.

The decision aims to increase the East African country’s manufacturing capacity.

Investments in the health sector 

President Hassan has disclosed in the past that health sector challenges are closest to her heart.

During her visit to India, she is expected to seal a deal for the setting up of a health facility in Tanzania, where kidney transplants will be conducted.

Mr Makamba revealed that Indian investors are expected to open a state-of-the-art hospital in Tanzania that will offer kidney transplants and thus significantly reduce costs associated with the treatment for Tanzanians and citizens of neighbouring countries alike.

They will also open a facility that will manufacture vaccines and drugs for humans and animals.

During her historic visit, President Hassan will meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and attend a state banquet to be hosted by her Indian counterpart, Ms Droupadi Murmu.