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Tanzania, which comprises of the mainland, and the Islands of Zanzibar and Pemba covers an area of 945,200 sq. km. Tanzania is an agricultural country with 40 million hectares of arable land. It is also full of rich natural resources including minerals, flora and fauna; the Ngorongoro Crater (3,647 metres) the largest in the world and believed to have the largest concentration of animal species; Lake Tanganyika the longest and second deepest lake in the world; Kilimanjaro the highest mountain in Africa; and Lake Victoria the second largest lake in the world. There are also other lakes such as Lake Nyasa, Lake Rukwa, Lake Eyas and Lake Natron. The total inland water is 60,000 sq. km. Tanzania has also an unbroken coastal line of approximately 800 kilometres with ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara providing access to landlocked neighbours. Tanzania has since 1986 embarked on various economic reforms involving the finance and banking sectors; including the privatisation of the parastatal organisations whereby domestic and foreign investors, some from SADC, have participated in our privatisation programme. Tanzania has achieved progress highlighted by the fact that we have managed to contain inflation from a high of 30 percent 10 years ago to a single digit as low as 4.3 percent in 2005. So far more than 300 enterprises, equivalent to three quarters of the total public enterprises have been privatised. Among the privatised parastatals, a good number have increased production and employment. Others have since qualified to be enrolled in the Dar es Salaam Stock Exchange thus creating opportunities for the Tanzanian public to own shares in these companies. On the issue of welfare to its people Tanzania has developed the National Poverty Eradication Strategy (NPES) prepared in collaboration with various stakeholders. It has also established a comprehensive poverty monitoring system that links all sectors of the economy. The programmes that are being developed and implemented are intervention measures and targeting the most vulnerable. The country’s per capita income is estimated at US$294 per year. According to the household Budget survey of 2000/2001 the proportion of the population below the national food poverty line is 18.7 percent and that below the national basic needs poverty line is 35.7 percent. There is also a big disparity between urban and rural poverty for both food and basic needs poverty. Poverty remains overwhelmingly in rural areas where 84 percent of the poor population live, and is highest among households who depend on agriculture. On macro-economic management, Tanzania shares a common vision with other members of SADC, based on the view that sustainable economic success and prosperity can be best achieved through regional cooperation and economic integration. SADC, therefore should continue to transform the vision into reality by having integration programmes that aim at improving, on a sustainable basis, the welfare of its people. We believe that the phased implementation of the SADC Trade Protocol does address this vision. On the other hand the Regional Indicative Strategic Development Plan (RISDP) which aims at identifying and solving socio-economic problems facing Member States, particularly in poverty eradication, equitable participation in economic development, meeting challenges of globalisation, sustainable development and gender issues will go a long way in making SADC a strong and attractive investment destination. It is in sharing this common vision with other members of SADC that Tanzania has ratified various SADC protocols. We need to march together, as SADC, on the long road of economic and social prosperity of our region. Dr. J.
NGASONGWA (MP)
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