EDITORIAL: YES, ECONOMIC DIPLOMACY IS THE RIGHT WAY TO GO
Over the weekend, Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa met with newly-appointed Tanzanian envoys to various diplomatic missions abroad at his office in the nation’s capital Dodoma.
The diplomats included ambassadors to Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Rwanda, Ethiopia and the Korea Republic, as well as a High Commissioner to India.
The prime minister took the opportunity to direct the emissaries to – among other tasks – make serious efforts in finding export markets for Tanzanian products as a matter of course.
The diplomats should also seek to bolster their country’s industrial development, partly by soliciting foreign direct investments (FDIs) and technology transfers by potential or prospective investors from their mission-countries.
Doing both on a functional and sustainable basis by the diplomats would lead to growth apace of the country’s economy through the resulting accelerated industrialisation, coupled with assured consumer markets for our products that would mostly be made from local raw materials and other inputs.
It surely is unacceptable that, nearly 60 years after attaining political independence from alien rule, the country still exports much of its agricultural and other produce in the raw form – only to import at great cost using scarce hard currency finished products made from our very own raw material exports.
If it must be said openly, we think Premier Majaliwa was – for all practical purposes – right to preach economic diplomacy to the seven diplomatic envoys in Dodoma as they prepare to go and take up new responsibilities abroad.
As it is, Tanzania maintains 39 embassies and high commissions abroad, as well as 30 consulates. If nothing else, this creates no less than 69 ‘diplomatic economy opportunities’ for bolstering and boosting our socioeconomic development no end.
The prime minister went further, asking our foreign diplomats to promote Tanzanian Tourism and Swahili – and also urge Tanzanians-in-the-Diaspora to find ways and means of upholding the best interests of the motherland.
ACT ON DISASTER RISK REDUCTION
While some of the factors behind disasters are pure acts of nature, human beings are also partly to blame for the suffering wrought by calamities that range from urban fires and disease outbreaks to landslides, floods and earthquakes in the greater eastern Africa region.
There are also several conflicts in the region that have led to a significant increase in the forced movement of people seeking peace and a better life. It is estimated that there were at least 8.1 million internally displaced people and 3.5 million refugees and asylum seekers in East Africa and the Horn of Africa by mid-2019.
The numbers are telling, and the need for action to stop this negative trend cannot be understated. There are now fresh calls for member states to implement the EAC Disaster Risk Reduction Act, and the United Nations endorsed Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (2015-2030).
Tanzania cannot be caught napping. There is an urgent need to ensure engagement and ownership of action by all stakeholders, and strengthen accountability in disaster risk reduction.
