Economic experts call for a fresh national vision spanning 2025 to 2050, emphasizing poverty reduction through people-centered development strategies.

A consortium of domestic and international experts convened in Dar es Salaam over the weekend for a public discourse aimed at catalyzing the formulation of groundbreaking economic strategies for Tanzania by the year 2050.

Their focal point emphasized the paramount importance of addressing income poverty reduction as a core agenda item.

During the discussion, Lawrence Mafuru, the Executive Secretary of the Office of the President-Planning Commission, highlighted that despite the strides taken towards the 2025 vision, the current economic status of the populace remains unsatisfactory.

Mafuru emphasized the necessity of formulating a new vision to alleviate their economic conditions.

"We will focus on specific areas in the upcoming national vision to ensure that development benefits our people directly, not just material possessions. Our aim is to provide education that equips individuals with the skills for professional endeavors, rather than simply completing university," expressed Mafuru.

"We will concentrate on sectors that foster rapid economic growth. Despite the current pace of economic expansion, it has not sufficiently alleviated poverty as desired," he elaborated.

The first vision of development ended in 1999, the second one started in 2000 and will end in 2025 and thus there is a need to prepare another vision of development from 2025 to 2050.

In the discussion, the experts discussed the previous visions and explained the successes achieved in various sectors including the construction of transport infrastructure, education and health and classified the existing challenges including the unemployment problem and the state of poverty for the people.

Oxford Policy Management Director, Dr. Charles Sokile said in the previous vision there were 85 percent of Tanzanians in poverty and thus the focus of the next vision should be on continuing to reduce poverty for the people.

"Our job now is to advise the government to develop policies that will help people get out of poverty in large numbers and the economy can grow," said Dr. Sokile.

In the meeting, the planning commission launched a team of consultants that included stakeholders from various sectors who will help the commission in preparing new economic policies.

Among those named in the commission are Professor Samuel Wangwe who is an expert in the country's economy, Dr. Charles Sokile from the Oxford Policy Management Institute and Ellykedo Ngonyani from the Ministry of Planning and Investment.