Danish minister on four-day visit to Tanzania to push development cooperation

Dar es Salaam. The Danish minister for Development Cooperation and Global Climate Policy, Mr Dan Jørgensen, arrived in Dar es Salaam yesterday for a four-day visit as the two countries seek to deepen development diplomatic ties.

Mr Jørgensen is expected to hold a bilateral meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Mr January Makamba, on issues of mutual interest for the future partnership.

Other bilateral meetings will be held in Dodoma with the Minister of State, President’s Office (Planning and Investment), Prof Kitila Mkumbo, the Minister of State, Vice President’s Office (Union and Environment), Dr Suleiman Jafo and the Minister for Finance, Dr Mwigulu Nchemba.

The visit will also include meetings with other potential sectors of cooperation, including health, where he will discuss with CCBRT health, disability and maternal health.

Mr Jørgensen will also visit Chemi & Cortex Industries Ltd in the Mbezi area, where the focus will be on youth, skills and job creation and a Danida-funded vocational training programme.

Mr Jørgensen visit will include the Iringa region at Udzungwa National Park, the Udzungwa Ecological Research Centre, the Southern Tanzanian Elephant Programme (STEP), and Association of Mazingira and alternative charcoal production. In Morogoro, he will visit Kilombero Sugar Plantation and out-growers to see the importance of agriculture for livelihoods and economic development in the community around the project.

“Tanzania and Denmark have had excellent and deep-rooted bilateral relations since the 1960s. Tanzania is the first African country with which Denmark initiated a development assistance partnership following the adoption of the first Danish law on international development cooperation in 1962,” said the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation in a statement.

Over the years, Tanzania has received more Danish development assistance than any other country in Africa, it added.

Denmark’s development support has been in areas like government budget support (GBS), the health sector programme, the tax collection improvement and modernization programme (TMP) through the Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA), and the and the business sector through a programme titled Business Sector Programme Support (BSPS) to improve the business environment in Tanzania.

From 1997 to December 2023, the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) registered 79 investment projects from Denmark, valued at $110.77 million, and are expected to create 3,024 jobs when they are fully operational.

The projects are registered in sectors such as agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, construction of commercial buildings, financial institutions, services and energy.

Tanzania exports to Denmark include minerals, animal products, oil seeds, tobacco, fish and fish products, coffee, tea, spices, wood and articles of wood, textiles, paper and paper board, according to the statement.

On the other hand, Tanzania imports from Denmark products such as electrical equipment, machinery and mechanical appliances, pharmaceutical products, paper products, rubber and articles, essential oils, mineral fuels, plastics and articles, ceramic products, iron and steel, carpets, furniture, textiles, bedding, and mattresses.

In the tourism sector, the number of tourists visiting Tanzania from Denmark has continued to rise over the years. For instance, in 2019, a total of 15,091 Danish tourists visited Tanzania.

However, the numbers dropped to 4,000 in 2020 due to the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, which restricted international travel.