DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania
United States Vice President, Kamala Harris, announced plans to boost trade with and investment in Tanzania during a visit there on Thursday, part of an African tour aimed at strengthening ties with a continent where China and Russia increasingly hold sway.
Harris started her trip on
Sunday in Ghana before flying late on Wednesday to Tanzania’s commercial
capital Dar es Salaam, where she met President Samia Hassan on Thursday.
The two gave short statements
to the media before going into a longer session of private talks.
“Working together, it is our
shared goal to increase economic investment in Tanzania and strengthen our
economic ties,” Harris said, listing a number of initiatives.
They included a new memorandum
of understanding between the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and
the government of Tanzania.
It will facilitate up to USD
500 million in financing to help U.S. companies export goods and services to
Tanzania in sectors including infrastructure, transportation, digital
technology, climate and energy security and power generation.
Harris also mentioned a new
partnership in 5G technology and cybersecurity, as well as a U.S.-supported
plan by LifeZone Metals to open a new processing plant in Tanzania for minerals
needed for electric vehicle batteries.
“This project is an important
and pioneering model, using innovative and low-emission standards. Importantly,
raw minerals will soon be processed in Tanzania, by Tanzanians,” she said,
adding that the plant would deliver battery-grade nickel to the United States
and the global market from 2026.
China has invested heavily in
Africa in the last two decades, and last November the Tanzanian president met
China’s President Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing.
Trade and investment featured
heavily on their agenda, with the leaders agreeing to “elevate two-way trade
and further expand the trade volume” and China saying it would explore
providing market access to more Tanzanian goods.
On Thursday, President Hassan
said her “most important request” was to improve the visa process between the
U.S. and Tanzania, as both countries would benefit from a “long duration visa”
that would increase trade and tourism.
Under Hassan, Tanzania has
returned to international engagement after a period of isolationism enforced by
her predecessor John Magufuli, who cancelled all his ministers’ foreign trips
and discouraged travel.
She has won praise from the
West for restoring political rights suspended by Magufuli, who died in office
in 2021.
“Madam President, under your
leadership Tanzania has taken important and meaningful steps and President Joe
Biden and I applaud you,” Harris said, standing alongside Hassan.
Magufuli had banned political
rallies by anyone other than elected officials, cracked down on Tanzania's LGBT
community and arrested scores of opposition supporters. He had also rejected
COVID-19 vaccines and urged Tanzanians to put faith in prayer and treatments
such as steam inhalation.
Hassan reversed the policies
upon coming to power and earlier this month, Tanzania passed the milestone of
fully vaccinating 50 percent of its population against the coronavirus.
But human groups say
violations continue, including government targeting of online media outlets.
Hassan’s education minister also banned a series of children’s books from
schools last month for allegedly promoting homosexuality.
Harris, the latest of several
high-profile figures from the U.S. administration to visit African countries in
recent months, is due to stay in Tanzania until Friday, when she will depart
for Zambia, the final stop on her tour.
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