The US government has reiterated its
commitments to continue tackling policy and infrastructure bottlenecks to trade
in Tanzania and the rest of East Africa region, it has been learnt. The
visiting US Secretary of Treasury Jacob Lew announced on Tuesday evening this
week at a Business Roundtable hosted by the American Chamber which was held at
Hyatt Regency hotel in Dar es Salaam. He said the US government, being the
leading contributor to the World Bank (WB) and the African Development Bank
(ADB), will continue contributing to the two banks which are both the major
financiers of the infrastructure and policy reforms across the East African
Community. He said, through Trade Africa, both within the region and with
the rest of the world. This is a whole-of-government initiative, with
support for businesses and investors through the USAID's East Africa Trade Hub.
According to him, the United States has teamed up with the major donors to
support Trademark East Africa, which is supporting infrastructure and reforms
across the region. In Tanzania, Trademark East Africa is improving border
posts and monitoring non-tariff barriers, amongst other activities. The US
Secretary of Treasury who is in tour of African countries jetted in Dar es
Salaam early this week for a two day visit and left on Tuesday night. In his
short visit, he met with government officials to discuss the opportunities and
challenges of doing business in Tanzania. He has praised Tanzania for having
been blessed with abundant natural resources, including wildlife and natural
gas, and a burgeoning consumer market, which make the country one of the most
exciting destinations for frontier investment.
“Tanzania can use its position as a regional
trade hub in East Africa’s economic integration to reap the benefits of
belonging to a fast-growing and promising market”, he noted. He also took time
to hear from business stakeholders how the United States could better support
private sector economic growth across the region. In his talks he emphasized
together with other things the opportunities and challenges which the US
President Barrack Obama addressed when he visited Tanzania in August last year
which the US government has committed to work and address them. During his
visit, President Obama highlighted the opportunities and challenges in this
region and the United States’ commitment to work to address these when he
hoisted hosted the U.S.–Africa Leaders’ Summit in Washington, the largest event
any U.S. President has never held with African heads of state. The Summit
was a success in bringing together U.S. companies and African leaders,
culminating in over $14 billion in commercial agreements. To improve the
environment for businesses in Africa and create jobs and opportunity for the
people of Africa, President Obama launched two key initiatives—Trade Africa
here in Dar es Salaam, and Power Africa in Cape Town. These initiatives
tackle key constraints across Africa, improved infrastructure and policies for
trade to flourish, and reliable electricity to power businesses and light
homes. The U.S. Treasury is working with Tanzania’s Ministry of Finance to
improve its debt management, infrastructure finance, and revenue collection
capacities. “I am happy to announce that we will soon be broadening our
engagement with two more advisors to assist the Ministry with managing the
budget and combating illicit finance”, he said and added that last year,
Treasury advisors completed assistance to the East African Community for
implementing the initiative. “This is an exciting time to be in Africa as the
region has been one of the bright spots in the global economy, and growth is
likely to remain strong in the coming years”, he said.
He further noted that, “East Africa,
specifically, is making impressive progress on regional integration,
infrastructure development, energy expansion, and economic reform and growth. The
U.S. government’s Doing Business in Africa project aims to strengthen our
commercial relationship with Africa”.
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