Norway trade gap with Tanzania widens by 20 per cent

Dar es Salaam. The trade gap between Norway and Tanzania has widened by 20 per cent, rising from Sh10 billion a decade ago to Sh12 billion now, which means the latter is still trapped in the aids domain.

Speaking at the Norway–Tanzania Alumni event on Tuesday evening, the Speaker of the National Assembly, Mr Job Ndugai, said for the last 10 years, Tanzania’s exports value to Norway has remained at Sh1 billion only.

The Speaker called upon Tanzanians to find ways of bridging the gap.

“We have to find ways of tackling this problem of very big trade imbalance between Norway and Tanzania. We can learn a lot when we embark on sustainable economic corporation with Norwegian investors,” he said.

Speaking during the same occasion, the Norwegian ambassador to Tanzania, Ms Elizabeth Jacobsen, said that the visiting Norwegian minister for International Development, Mr Nikolai Astrup, was key in boosting economic co-operation between the two countries.

“I have been here in Tanzania since September this year and I have noticed that there are many development opportunities, which will benefit both nations,” said the Norwegian envoy, who organised the colourful ceremony at his residence in Dar es Salaam.

For his part, the visiting Norwegian minister said the Norwegian tradition of collaborating with Tanzania will remain intact, particularly on oil and gas development, education, agriculture, climate change mitigation, renewable energy and other related development projects under Global Fund initiatives.