Economic Relations Between Tanzania And China

Relations between Tanzania and China date back to the Cooperation Agreement signed48years ago. This treaty can be traced back when the late President Nyerere visited China in1965, where the Sino-Tanzanian Treaty of Friendship (1965) was signed in Perking on February20,1965.This "Treaty of Friendship" brought about a new era of cooperation between the People republic of China and United Republic of Tanzania, and it was very instrumental in moving the new country forwards.Tanzania has clearly benefited from this relation, where China’s contribution to Tanzania’s development can be clearly observed from the amount of financing extended to Tanzania in the early years after Independence. In this modern era when China is projected to be the largest economy in the world by2016, it is unnecessary to point out the great importance of Tanzania forging stronger ties with China, as this is proved by the way in which all the great nations of the world are so eagerly competing to forge close ties with China and attract more FDI to their countries.On the other hand, as China expands its presence in Africa, Beijing Geo strategists understand the importance of Tanzania in implementing their foreign policy, such considerations underscore the fact that, Tanzania is better positioned to advance the Economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa. This can be observed with the current active role of China in Tanzania which signals the commitment of China investing in long-term strategic partnership with Tanzania.Looking ahead, as we plan for the future, there’s no doubt that China is a lucrative market for the global agriculture exports, therefore if we are thinking strategically in a country where80%of its populace depends in agriculture as a main economic activity then our focus should be on how we can tap into China’s demands for agricultural produce. In the presence of mining, oil and Gas and other thriving extractive industries, this might sound silly, but let’s be clear and let’s be simple, strategy is about "choices", and at the root of all strategy lays the ability to make good choices.For that reason in a country where rural incomes are linked either directly or indirectly to agriculture, if we have to think strategically and if we want to give our people a fair share from the China-Tanzania relation, then our choice should be Agriculture development for export to China and we shouldn’t concentrate our energy in extractive Industries, which is a simple choice to take.