TANZANIANS have been encouraged to make good use of the economic opportunities to win the Chinese market through existing relationship between the two countries.
The economic relationship between the two countries has been growing steadily over the years, with China becoming Tanzania’s largest trading partner and investor.
Ardhi University Lecturer, from the Department of Business Studies, School of Earth Sciences, Real Estate, Business and Informatics, Dr Rosemary Mnongya, said to benefit from the existing relations between Tanzania and China, Tanzanians have to wake up and compete in foreign markets, especially China.
Dr Mnongya made the remarks during the workshop hosted by the Africa-China Centre for Policy and Advisory (ACCPA) in partnership with the Economic Society of Tanzania (EST) in Dar es Salaam.
She said the partnership has presented numerous opportunities for economic growth, employment creation and poverty reduction, therefore.
“Through the long-term relations established by the leaders of the two countries, let us learn new technologies so that we can be proud of those relations of more than 60 years now,” said Dr Mnongya.
She added that the existing long-term relationships should be a win-win situation, not only one (China) to benefit from Tanzania.
“We should also show the skill of learning their technology to be able to make our own. More than half a century now we have not been able to make our weapons,” she said.
Furthermore, Dr Mnongya said the country should add value to the raw materials they have so that they can be sold as final products instead of raw materials.
“Since we have our raw materials, we need to build the ability to learn new techniques and how to use them so that we can add value to our products,” Dr Mnongya said.
She said it is the right time for the Small Industries Development Organisation (SIDO) and other institutions to be able to improve technology in general because the world is more technological.
The ACCP Founder and Executive Director, Mr Paul Frimpong, said China is still the largest investor in Africa over the last few decades.
Mr Frimpong said between 2000 and 2019, Chinese Financial Institutions signed a total of 1,141 loan contracts worth 153 billion US dollars with African State-Owned Enterprises and the government.
