Tanzania and Egypt agree on bilateral cooperation

A highly organized meeting of officials at the 3rd Egyptian-Tanzanian Joint Commission for Cooperation has agreed to set up a review mechanism to monitor and evaluate periodically, the existing bilateral cooperation between their countries. In a communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, the officials as well agreed to explore new areas of cooperation where they can tap related mutual benefits. During the discussions, the two sides exchanged views on the means of enhancing cooperation in various fields including trade, investment, maritime transport, agriculture, livestock in addition to energy, water resources management, tourism, health, education and culture. The 3rd Joint Commission for Cooperation was held from January 8 to 10, 2018, where the after the ministerial consultations would follow of senior officials and experts’ this year in Cairo, Egypt. The Tanzanian delegation was led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Dr Augustine Mahiga, while the Egyptian team was led by their country’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Sameh Shoukry. In the meeting, both sides underlined the importance of the visit by the President of Egypt, Mr Abdel Fatah Al Sisi, to Tanzania in August, last year, where he had fruitful discussions with President John Magufuli of Tanzania. During the commission meeting in Cairo, the two sides as well would discuss possible joint investments in agriculture, meat production and pharmaceutical industry and agree on how to encourage further cooperation between their respective business communities and private sectors through promotion of trade missions. 

On the other hand, the meeting witnessed signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation in the fields of agriculture, tourism and diplomatic training. They further agreed to effectively implement all agreements that have been concluded by the two countries, and finalise the pending draft agreements for cooperation in different fields at the earliest convenient time. Another issue which was agreed upon at the meeting included the importance of drawing lessons from international best practices on management of trans-boundary water resources to inform the administration of the Nile Basin water resources to ensure it benefits all the riparian states. Both sides expressed the importance of the cooperation among all Nile riparian states in utilizing the river water resources to fulfill development objectives of their people, on the basis of a win-win situation. The next meeting of the joint commission will be held in Tanzania in the year 2020. Equally, the two sides exchanged views on current regional and security issues including the situation in Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Central African Republic, where they agreed that all burning issues should be resolved amicably through peaceful consultations under the concept of “African Solutions to African problems.”