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Economic diplomacy can alleviate poverty
2007-06-23 10:12:02
By Emmanuel Hayuka
Despite being endowed with both natural and human resources, Tanzania has remained among the world`s least developed countries.
The country has abundant reserves of natural resources in terms of minerals such as gold, diamonds, iron ore, coal, nickel, tanzanite and natural gas(Songo Songo and Mnazi Bay) to name but a few, while it also has both skilled and unskilled human resources which are essential for socio-economic development.
There are various reasons which have been advanced to account for this situation, the most famous being what can be termed as Afro-centric view of underdevelopment.
This has received widespread support among the African leaders who normally blame the western colonialists, notably the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal and Belgium.
Such leaders have used colonialism as a scapegoat for their failure to bring their countries to acceptable levels of development.
It is true that colonialism has had a hand in the underdevelopment of many African countries, Tanzania included, but it is also true that Africans themselves are to blame for the situation.
However, to be more realistic, it is undeniable truth that colonialism contributed immensely to current Africa underdevelopment situation, what with varying degrees of political and economic mal-administration, corruption, embezzlement of public funds and plundering of natural resources.
It is also worth noting that immediately after independence Tanzania took several measures which aimed at attaining economic development.
This was an important move that shaped the destiny of the country, the immediate result being the writing of the Interim Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania in 1965 that abolished multiparty political system and specifically declared Tanzania as a de jure one party state.
It was argued by the Founder President of the United Republic of Tanzania the late Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere that in order to implement socio-economic development policies the people need to organize themselves under the leadership of one party so as to realize their common objectives.
He had a good reason for that. ``…politics of a country governed by a two-party system are not, and cannot be, national politics; they are the politics of groups, whose differences, more often than not, are of small concern to the majority of the people,`` he had said.
Apart from the aforementioned decision, the first phase government also nationalized all major means of production by virtue of the Arusha Declaration of 1967 which inter alia proclaimed the ideology of Socialism and Self-reliance as the means of enhancing socio-economic development.
Consequently many state owned enterprises were established. They include Mwanza Textile Company, the National Bank of Commerce and National Food and Agriculture Corporation.
However, the majority of these enterprises failed to accomplish the objectives of their establishment mainly due to managerial problems and embezzlement of their funds.
Therefore these factors necessitated the liberalization of both political and economic systems in the country, processes started in mid 1980s and are going on. The move has to a certain extent resulted in the revival of the country\'s economy.
In order to continue with the task of reforming the economy, the third phase government under the leadership of former President Benjamin W.Mkapa adopted the policy of ``Economic Diplomacy`` during its second term, with the goal that it could bring about improvement and growth of our economy through attraction of foreign markets, investments, science and technology, technical and expertise assistance.
This task was entrusted to His Excellency President Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete the then Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation.
The policy of Economic Diplomacy has likewise been pursued by the current government. This fact is reflected by numerous official visits abroad made by President Jakaya Kikwete immediately after assuming the office.
He particularly visited industrialized countries and emerging economies such as United States of America, United Kingdoms, France, Japan, South Korea, China, Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
Nearly in all these countries President Kikwete emphasized good economic relationship particularly in purchasing Tanzania`s goods, investing and providing scientific and technological assistance in improving infrastructures.
Recently the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Co-operation, Bernard Membe, visited several countries in the Far East to drum economic support and cooperation.
Addressing the media after his tour in the Far East, the Minister said that the countries he had visited had shown a high degree of willingness to assist Tanzania in advancing and improving her economy by providing both technical and financial assistance in various fields.
The success of the Economic Diplomacy will be measured in terms of whether Tanzania has managed to utilize the available foreign markets for its commodities and services. Is there any significant increase in our exports?
We have seen the President and then the Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation in the forefront in the implementation of economic diplomacy but our ambassadors are yet to do the same.
It is time they worked to attract investors, tourists and other people from the countries in which they represent us in order to develop our economy.
If everyone works hard along these lines, Tanzania\'s econmy is surely going to improve and we are likely to win the war against poverty.
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