Guardian Interview with Russian Ambassador to Tanzania

Prior to marking 60 years Anniversary of the establishment of Russia-Tanzania diplomatic relations the Guardian Newspaper had an opportunity to interview Mr. Yuri Popov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the United Republic of Tanzania (pictured) on how he describes this landmark day.

Today, December 11th, Russian Federation and the United Republic of Tanzania mark the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations. While on the other hand, the United Republic of Tanzania is also celebrating its 60th Anniversary of the Independence Day, how can you describe this?

It is quite symbolic that both events coincide in time. Immediately after Tanganyika had gained independence, as a matter of two days, the Soviet Union recognized the newly born country, and full-fledged diplomatic relations were established between our nations. Now, after 60 years have elapsed since those dates, I am happy to state that our close and mutually beneficial partnership persists and continues to grow from strength to strength. On bilateral basis we have been engaged in fruitful cooperation in the spheres of trade and economy, education, culture, humanitarian issues, as well as in matters related to the maintenance of security. Political dialogue between Moscow and Dar es Salaam, now Dodoma, has been underway nonstop. 

The USSR-Russia and Tanganyika-Tanzania stood firm for the cause of the national liberation movements in Africa and hand-in-hand helped the freedom fighters to counter colonialism, racism and apartheid in all their manifestations. Ever since the nations in Southern Africa have gained independence, we jointly with our Tanzanian partners assisted these countries in asserting their statehood.

Nowadays, Russia and Tanzania continue to uphold traditionally friendly relations based on the principles of equality, mutual respect and consideration for each other’s interests. Russia supports the idea of the necessity to find African solutions to African problems and on her part is ready and willing to provide the continent with moral, material, technical and peacekeeping support. Today the United Republic of Tanzania is our important foreign partner in defending on the global scene the values of justice, strict compliance with the norms of international law, respect for national identity, destiny and development priorities of every country.

What is the current status of the Russia – Tanzania economic and business relations. How do the countries benefit from each other in terms of imports and exports during the period?

After the collapse of the Soviet Union there was a protracted period of stagnation in our bilateral trade and economic cooperation. However, over the past few years we have observed obvious positive trends in these fields. For instance, the volume of our bilateral trade has more than doubled since 2010. And yet, the post-Soviet deceleration in our relations, when Africa was largely neglected in Moscow, still echoes. 

Traditionally the Russian-Tanzanian exports and imports are mostly comprised of agricultural products, such as cereals, tobacco, coffee, tea, seeds, spices and so on. I am firmly convinced that, while maintaining sustainable trade growth, we should take joint efforts to increase the share of processed and industrial products in our trade structure. In particular, Tanzania’s industrialization agenda and its growing demand for industrial goods like machinery and high-tech products give us a reason to look for ways to diversify the structure of our business interaction.

Our cooperation in economic sphere has been gaining momentum step by step. This trend involves the industrial sector among others. It deals with participation of Russian business in mining, railway construction and other ventures in Tanzania. Russia is looking for opportunities to supply hardware products in this country such as locomotives, pipes, machinery, etc. The Tanzanian energy sector looks attractive to Russian companies as well. 

I should mention tourism as one of the most promising areas of our cooperation. Tanzania is a well-known tourist destination and, before the COVID-19 outbreak, the number of Russian visitors was increasing by 10-20% annually. I have every reason to believe that the tourist flow from Russia to Tanzania should regain its pre-pandemic level shortly. We are looking forward to resumption of frequent charter flights between Russia and Zanzibar.

Hopefully, we are on the verge of signing a new bilateral Air Service Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of the United Republic of Tanzania that, in particular, would add Zanzibar to the list of destinations for regular direct flights operated by our airlines. I visualize Tanzania as one of the favorite attractions for Russian rank and file tourists in line with such destinations as Turkey, Egypt, Thailand or Indonesia.

Which are the main sectors that Russian companies are targeting to invest in Tanzania? Is there any project that Russia is already implementing in regard to the development of Tanzania?

I have already outlined the principal directions with regard to Tanzanian market that Russian businesses display interest in. Now let me further elaborate on this issue. We in Moscow heed Tanzania’s new resolute approach towards attracting investments and improving the business climate in the country. And, as I said, Russians are ready to provide support for Tanzania’s industrialization agenda.

Tanzania is one of the few countries in the world endowed with rich uranium deposits in the Mkuju River area and our Uranium One company has invested in this mine, which is ready to start production. However, long-term negative price dynamics of the world uranium market have prevented us and our Tanzanian partners from turning this facility fully operational. No matter what, we believe in huge potential of the project and are confident that it should become cost-effective in the nearest future.

Russian-Tanzanian cooperation in the peaceful use of nuclear energy looks very promising, taking into account Russia’s extensive scientific and technical capabilities as well as Tanzania’s uranium deposits and its growing demand for new energy sources. One of the important initiatives in this area is the construction of a Center for Nuclear Science, Technology and Innovation in Tanzania based on a nuclear research reactor of Russian design (Russia is currently building similar centers in Zambia and some other African countries). In addition, our cooperation might embrace the use of nuclear technologies in medicine, various industries and agriculture. All areas of cooperation will be set forth in the nearly concluded Memorandum of Understanding between the Russian State Atomic Energy Corporation (ROSATOM) and the Tanzania Atomic Energy Commission (TAEC).  

It is common knowledge that advanced economy must be diversified in terms of energy sources and, in my opinion, Tanzania is on the right track to this goal. Concerning the ongoing development of hydropower engineering in the country as well as Tanzania’s plans to develop gas power plants, the Russian manufacturers, like OJSC Power Machines can offer Tanzania their industrial turbine units, turbogenerators and other technical equipment for hydro and gas power stations. Moreover, having considerable potential to become the natural gas energy hub in East Africa, Tanzania will certainly need a well-developed network of pipelines. This fact opens opportunities for fruitful cooperation with Russia’s producers and suppliers of large diameter pipes as well as oil and gas equipment including those for LNG transportation and storage.

Tanzania’s pace of implementation of transport and especially railway agenda, another component of industrialization, can only be admired and lauded. The ambitious plans to connect the Indian Ocean coast and Central African countries with a railway network impress the Russian railway constructors and transport manufacturers, who have broad expertise in international transport and logistics services, international passenger transportation, construction, repair and modernization of railways infrastructure as well as its management. For instance, I would like to mention the state-owned Russian Railways and Sinara – Transport Machines companies, the latter being one of the largest Russian manufacturers of transport engineering equipment and machines.

With a view of facilitating Tanzania’s development, both our countries signed the Debt Swap Agreement in 2011 aimed at easing the Tanzanian foreign debt commitments by redirecting funds to development projects in this country. Under this Agreement we have launched the project “Supply of laboratory equipment for classes of chemistry, biology and physics for the secondary schools of the United Republic of Tanzania”. I hope that we should see the start of its practical implementation one of these days.

Among the most important channels of Russian investments in Tanzania’s development is the provision of Russian governmental scholarships to local students. A large number of Soviet and Russian trained graduates have figured as prominent and efficient performers involved in all walks of life of this country.  For the last few years the number of scholarships granted for Tanzanian students on an annual basis has been steadily increasing.

What is the progress of the formation of the Joint Permanent Commission?

Both countries are in the final stage of finalizing the Intergovernmental Agreement establishing the JPC which is supposed to promote, oversee and coordinate our economic cooperation including:

- identifying priorities of cooperation in different spheres including mining, energy and tourism sectors;

- assisting business communities of both countries in developing the bilateral trade;

- removing trade barriers and restrictions;

- exchanging relevant information and technologies in order to support industrial and trade sectors.

The Russian side is ready to consider technology transfer as a new direction of our cooperation.

What is the status of the planned Russia–Africa Summit in 2022?

Moscow continues preparations for the second Russia-Africa Summit that is expected to take place in 2022. In May 2020 the Russian Foreign Ministry established the Secretariat of the Russia-Africa Partnership Forum. Its main objective is to prepare Russian-African high-level meetings and to coordinate the implementation of decisions approved by them. A coordination center, a public council and a scientific council have been set up under it. They represent ministries, agencies, business and public organizations engaged in the development of relations with the African continent. These three councils are working out concrete proposals for consolidating Russian-African cooperation.

In April 2021 Mr. Oleg Ozerov, Ambassador-at-Large and Head of the Secretariat of the Russia–Africa Partnership Forum visited Tanzania where he held meetings with Dr. Peter Mathuki, Secretary-General of the East African Community, in Arusha and Amb. Mbarouk Nassor Mbarouk, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, in Dar-es-Salaam. They discussed issues related to bilateral cooperation and preparation for the next Russia-Africa Summit in 2022.

Moreover, the Association for Economic Cooperation with African Countries has been instituted, which brings together large Russian companies active on the African markets. There are plans to develop roadmaps for Russia-Africa economic, scientific and humanitarian cooperation.

The venue and timeframe of the Russia-Africa summit in 2022 are to be determined in the near future. It was supposed initially that the event would be held in one of the African locations. However, due to reasons dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, the Russian side may be inclined to propose Saint Petersburg as the most appropriate place to host this forum.

I would like to remind that in 2019 all 54 African countries as well as eight major African multilateral organizations and integration associations participated in the first Russia-Africa Summit.

by Guardian Reporter 

The Guardian

Saturday, December 11, 2021