By Bernard Lugongo, The Citizen Reporter
Dar es Salaam. In a bid to decrease the counterfeit imports in the country, the government will start linking local traders to genuine Chinese and other Asian companies.

According to the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry and Agriculture (TCCIA), the body was set to establish a company in China, known as Wabantu, which would work on identifying genuine companies from which the traders would then order various goods.

President of the TCCIA, Mr Aloys Mwamanga noted this over the weekend when officially opened the 15th East Africa International Trade Exhibition held at Diamond Jubilee hall.

The three-day exhibition ending today, organized by Expolink Company, was attended by over 48 exhibitors from 26 different countries.

Mr Mwamanga said in many cases traders were unknowingly importing fake goods from China because of lack of enough information on authenticity of those companies.

“There are several companies in China that could manufacture the same product; therefore, business people find themselves in trap of buying fake goods on lack of companies’ knowledge,” he said.

“But with this initiative, we will link traders with middle company to identify genuine companies for them.”
The Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) estimates that Tanzania incurs losses of between 15 and 25 per cent of total domestic revenue due to counterfeit imports  in 2009.

That is to say that the government loses between Sh540 billion and Sh900 billion annually due to tax evasion related to counterfeit and substandard goods imported into the country.

The Fair Competition Commission (FCC) had impounded and destroyed goods condemned as counterfeits worth Sh3.2 billion between May, 2007 and December, 2010, most of which comes from China and other Asian markets.
Furthermore, the president reminded the government on the need to have industries that would add value to the agricultural produce for the sake of competitiveness in the global market.

“What I have so far observed from most exhibitors here is that they have come with value added agricultural products from their own countries, which we should also emulate” he noted. He also called on attended foreign exhibitors to establish strong business relations with Tanzanian businesspeople in exchange of opportunities and ideas.

The exhibition was attended by traders from Dubai, China, South Africa, Tanzania, Italy, Iran, Korea, Malasia, and India, among other countries.

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