Bumper year for Tanzania-UK partnership

By Marianne Young

There has been plenty to celebrate over the last year as the UK and Tanzanian governments stepped up our bilateral prosperity activities.

On April 4, 2024, we signed our Mutual Prosperity Partnership (MPP) and opened a British office in Dodoma; the first western stand-alone office in the capital. Both events were foundation stones of my mission as the British High Commissioner: to strengthen our longstanding bilateral relations and build a modern partnership that supports our mutual economic aspirations and development aims.

The Tanzanian Development Vision 2050 sets an ambitious path for inclusive and sustainable growth. The UK will continue to partner with Tanzania across a range of areas to support this vision—from jointly tackling global issues like climate change, to advancing education and jobs for youth, women’s empowerment, and equitable access to healthcare.

I am proud of the breadth of this partnership, which is helping to make both our countries safer and more prosperous. But to drive economic growth that lifts people up and protects the environment, the private sector has a large role to play.

The MPP brings together all aspects of the UK’s engagement with Tanzania on investment, trade, and green growth.

What is it? Are we making any progress? How is it changing lives in Tanzania?

Firstly, the MPP includes goals to jointly achieve by 2030. These include leveraging £300 million in UK foreign direct investment, unlocking up to £1 billion of UK government-backed investments in Tanzania, mobilising £100 million of private investment into Tanzanian SMEs, increasing bilateral trade, catalysing more climate finance, and exploring opportunities for value addition in minerals here in Tanzania. These are ambitious and measurable targets that we are tracking together that will benefit both countries by creating jobs and new business opportunity.

Secondly, in my role, I am keen for us to make the most of the UK’s unique selling points— world-class institutions that are ready and able to partner with governments and businesses overseas to stimulate high-quality growth. The MPP does this by bringing together the UK’s partnership offer to Tanzania under one banner.

For example, UK Export Finance is already supporting two large infrastructure projects here, with a total of £2 billion available to back investments in Tanzania. British International Investment has already invested £100 million in Tanzania and aims to double this in the next 2 years. And our Department for Business and Trade is supporting UK businesses to find export and investment opportunities, with a growing portfolio in mining, infrastructure, agri-processing, blue economy, transport, renewable energy and financial services.

 Thirdly, prosperity is not an end in itself, but a means for people to live well. The MPP includes work through our overseas development programme to directly support Tanzanian small businesses.

One example is helping farmers achieve certification to prove the origin and quality of their products to raise their value and appeal as exports. Our Green Growth Facility is working with a network of 30,000 farmers to gain Rainforest Alliance certification for vanilla and cocoa.

Another example is our work with the Tanzanian Horticultural Association: helping Tanzanian exporters to overcome challenges associated with exporting into the UK and other markets, and to establish relationships with buyers through the Horticulture Export Accelerator Programme. East African Foods is developing a strategy to launch into the Kenyan market. This business model directly supports thousands of small-scale farmers and will increase the volumes and value of highly traded goods such as onions, maize flour, and rice exported from Tanzania to regional markets - where price premiums average 9–10 percent above local prices.

These kinds of initiatives, alongside our large-scale investment work, will create jobs and opportunities for Tanzanians for many years to come.

As the UK government resets our own long-term growth strategy and looks to new markets for investment, the MPP provides a modern, partnership-based approach that delivers for both governments.

The UK remains fully committed to supporting Tanzania’s development and to helping create a more prosperous future for all its people. While this is about more than just economics—as outlined in Vision 2050—private sector investment and trade will be critical to reaching the scale and speed of growth needed to lift a growing population out of poverty.

Our Mutual Prosperity Partnership is here to support that shared aspiration and our office in Dodoma will help us work together to achieve our shared goals.

Marianne Young is the British High Commissioner to Tanzania