French investments in Tanzania to hit Sh9.7 trillion in five years

Dar es Salaam. The French public and private commitment for Tanzania over the next five years will in total represent up to $4.2 billion (about Sh9.7 trillion) in investment, it was announced here on Monday evening.

Ambassador of France to Tanzania Nabil Hajlaoui said the investment will cover the projects such as distribution and generation of energy with groups such as Engie, Total Energies and Maurer and Prom, transport and logistics, marine transport, water and Sanitation, telecoms and health.

“France is in the process of becoming the leading European investor in Tanzania because it has the ambition to considerably increase its direct participation in the country’s development projects,” said Ambassador Hajlaoui at an event that brought together a delegate of over 40 French companies.

He said France would like to position itself as the very first European investor in the country and the reference partner of President Samia Suluhu Hassan for the achievement of the country’s modernisation and industrialisation objectives.

On the global perspective, the primary investors to Tanzania are China, India, Kenya, United Kingdom, Mauritius, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Canada, the United States, the Netherlands, South Africa, and Germany.

The visit paid by the French delegate, which is here to mobilise alongside Tanzanian partners in a long-term strategy, to up their investments in the country, is in response to President Hassan’s call that she made in February this year in her official visit to France.

A delegation of 40 French companies which has been in the country from May 16 to 18, deals in the sectors ranging from transport, energy, water treatment, agro-food to health.

The visit of the delegation was motivated by the keen interests of French companies for Tanzania, a country which due to its dynamic growth and political stability, offers significant development prospects for French expertise.

These opportunities are all the more promising as the country is working to restore a business climate conducive to foreign investors.

During her meeting with the French business community in Paris on February 14 in her trip to France, President Hassan insisted on her pro business reforms and invited French companies to come and invest here.

Three months after the invitation, French companies responded massively to the call and had to meet the President in Dar es Salaam to inform her of the progress of their projects.

One of the investors in the delegation, Mr Jerome Revole, who is the director of Business France, said France was also intending to help Tanzania to mobilise European partnership instruments such as the Global Gateway Initiative....up to Euro 300 billion in investment.

France currently holds the Presidency of the European Union.

Mr Revole said the number of French establishments in Tanzania had more than trippled between 2019 and 2022.

Under the period of review, he explained, the number of French companies jumped from 12 to 40.

“The French presence has therefore expanded and diversified with regard to the growing number of Small and Medium Enterprises supported by the regional office of Business France,” noted Mr Revole.

Another investor, who was part of the delegate, Mr Gérard Wolf, said French companies in the country had proven their reliability by maintaining their projects and investments despite the crisis linked to the Covid-19.

“During the bad times of the pandemic, none of the French companies left the country. This is a sign of social investment that we consider when operating in a country,” he said.

He promised that French companies would do whatever it took to keep going the momentum that was created by the leaders of the two nations.

“We will train Tanzanians. We will provide them with capacity building for them to excel. But we cannot do alone, we need a partnership (with Tanzanian investors),” said Mr Wolf.