Mark Schroeder: Hello,
I'm Mark Schroeder, Vice President of Africa Analysis at Stratfor. I
had a recent conversation with the President of Tanzania, Jakaya
Kikwete, following his participation at the recent U.S.-Africa Summit
that took place in Washington, D.C. President Kikwete describes his
vision for Tanzania for the years to come.
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Mark: You joined us in Texas immediately following the
historic United States-Africa Summit, the first time that the United
States government has hosted such a summit. Could you describe your
observations of the U.S.-Africa Summit that just concluded in
Washington?
President Jakaya Kikwete:
What I can really say is first, my deepest appreciation to President
Barack Obama for conceiving the idea of hosting this summit. We have
been exposed or we have had an opportunity to meet the mega players in
the U.S. economy. These are companies that have not been easy for
African heads of state and government to get access to. And this is
really a game-changer, because what is it that we are looking for from
Africa? Well it's for promoting investments, promoting trade, we're
looking for technology, we are looking for skills, transfers, and this
summit has made it possible to create the ambience for the realization
of this dream.
Mark: From
a political standpoint, the country is a significant role model in the
region, in the East African region on the continent and abroad, but the
country really models stability. We have seen, unfortunately, conflict
in other countries of the region, but could you tell us what are the
characteristics of Tanzania that has really modeled stability in that
country and really sets that country apart?
President Kikwete: I
think it's the pursuit of sound political and economic policies in the
sense that politics and economic policies that have been inclusive.
Nobody is being discriminated against or being denied the right to
access the political or economic because of his ethnicity or because of
his tribe, because of his religion or the part of the country that he
comes from or because of his gender. I think our first leader really
created the foundations for this. He made it clear that if we
discriminate each other on the basis of ethnicity, religion, color of
the skin or tribe or the area that we come from, we are going to tear
apart the country. So, he laid these foundations and fortunately the
successive leaders have maintained this policy, have advanced this
policy, and it is actually in my view what has really delivered.
Mark: If
I could just ask you Mr. President, if you could describe the
infrastructure program that you have, once again, that really enables
Tanzania to position itself in two regions, the East Africa region, the
Southern African region, but as a part of this greater Indian Ocean base
as well connected to South Asia, East Asia, it's a really dynamic,
large region. Could you describe Tanzania's position there?
President Kikwete: Especially
ports, which is a very critical factor for us. The port of Dar es
Salaam, we are building two new berths, Berth 13 and 14. We are
operating the seven berths, Berth number one through seven, which
because we a re looking for support from our development partners but we
are also leveraging private sector participation on a PPP basis to
develop these ports. Then of course these ports, Tanzania is situated
in, the geography of Tanzania is another resource of this kind. We are
bordering Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, Zambia, Malawi that have been using the port of Dar es Salaam.
Mark: Yes.
President Kikwete: So we now have to deal with the
railways, where the central corridor which links the port of Dar es
Salaam with Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the
Congo, we're upgrading that one from a narrow gage to a standard gage.
Then we are extending the railway line into Rwanda, onward to the Congo,
into Burundi and onward again to the Congo. The standards have been
completed. It will cost us about $4.1 or 4.2 billion. So there is so
much on the infrastructure side that the way we are doing, but why are
we doing it? Because we are seeing poor infrastructure impedes growth
and development in a big way. We are building 11,000 kilometers of optic
fiber, and nationwide optic fiber network. The whole of the eastern
side of the African continent is not being connected to the
international information highway. There is no optic fiber network
submarine linking that. Now South Global has built what we call the
SEACOM. It has landed south of Dar es Salaam, but as we are planning to
do that we also started working on the nationwide optic fiber network so
that when a submarine cable lands in Dar es Salaam we will be able now
to make use of it and connect the country to this cable so that we get
into the super highway.
Mark: In
one advisory study that Stratfor has done, called the Post-China 16, it
has really identified Tanzania because of those qualities, because of
infrastructure developments, Tanzania has been set apart. The last word
to you, Mr. President, is you have intimated the bright future for
Tanzania. If you could just conclude with the word of Tanzania in a few
years to come, please tell us.
President Kikwete: The
other objective is to develop Tanzania into a middle-income country by
2025. By the year 2025, we will have the GDP per capita of $3,000.
That's one, but also a highly educated and highly skilled population, we
call a knowledge society, a highly knowledge society. Increase the
productivity of the country. Make it a country semi-industrialized
economy, but competitive enough. Then of course, we are also the fourth
to put on, in fact to here, has been also ensure the country is
well-governed, good governance, rule of law, human rights and all these
vices in society are being fought mercilessly. So these are the four
main objectives. It's a tall order, it looks not feasible, but when we
started with about $300 GDP per capita, we are now close to $800. So I
believe in the remaining ten years we will be able to get there and now
of course there is natural gas coming in, coming on stream. It should
certainly open up now the opportunities for the growth of the economy.
So I'm really saying the future is going to get to a middle-income
country by 2025. It's a tall order but I think with the long-term
perspective plan we have the road map, we have the benchmarks. I'm
optimistic that we can gradually become a middle-income country.
Mark: Thank
you President Kikwete that has been a tremendous conversation, and
really under your leadership Tanzania has achieved so much already but
with the plans that you have initiated that you have just described to
us with the resources that are being mobilized from a human capital
basis, from an economic development basis, the future for Tanzania is
bright. It has been an honor to host you here in Texas at the Stratfor
offices. It has been an honor to have you after the historic U.S.-Africa
Summit. Thank you again for being on the Stratfor conversations program
President Kikwete.
President Kikwete: The
pleasure is mine. Thank you. Thank you for having me here. Thank you
for the support. We look forward to continued cooperation with Stratfor.
Mark: Thank you sir.
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