PRIME Minister, Mr Kassim Majaliwa yesterday left the country for a working trip to Seoul, South Korea as part of government’s efforts to further strengthen its economic diplomacy.
A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office stated that Mr Majaliwa will be in the Asian country for a three-day official visit, whereby he will meet with his counterpart, Han Duck-soo.
Similarly, the Premier is expected to take part in a business conference as well as meet with owners of major companies and factories. He will be meeting with the Tanzania Diaspora residing in South Korea.
“Through the meetings, Tanzania is anticipated to strengthen further relations with South Korea which has existed for 30 years,” noted the statement.
Besides, the country is bound to boost its trade ties and investment, seek new opportunities to grow its blue economy, tourism, arts and culture.
Data from the United Nations COMTRADE shows that South Korea imports from Tanzania was worth 25.88 million US dollars in 2021.
In his greetings while marking 30 years of Tanzania-South Korea cooperation, the Ambassador of South Korea to Tanzania, Kim Sun Pyo, disclosed that the two countries established diplomatic relations on April 30, 1992 which has continued to grow in many mutually beneficial fields.
According to him, despite the Covid- 19 related circumstances; there were meaningful achievements in bilateral economic relations.
“In 2021, two Korean companies were awarded new contracts in the field of repairing of Tanzanian vessels and providing locomotives to Standard Gauge Railroad project, which is the one of the most essential national development projects in Tanzania,” noted Ambassador Pyo.
He, however, attributed the field of official development assistance (ODA), the Republic of Korea selected Tanzania as one of its 3rd-term priority partnership countries among 26 for the years 2021 to 2025.
Ambassador Pyo added; “Korea has therefore been sharing its development experience in various areas, such as healthcare, education, spanning agriculture, fisheries, vocational training, ICT, water management, infrastructure development, through a variety of Korean organisations including the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA), the Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and the Korea Foundation for International Healthcare (KOFIH).”
He further disclosed that the private sector’s development cooperation partners for Tanzania, a number of Korean NGOs, representatives of religious communities and volunteers, in a spirit of humanitarianism, have been working devotedly, together with Tanzanians in various places around the country.
“In these ways, we will continue to make valuable efforts to play its own part in contributing to the full accomplishment of the “Tanzania Development Vision 2025″ of becoming a middle-income country by 2025 through industrialisation,” stressed the Ambassador.
The trip in the Republic of Korea is Mr Majaliwa’s second in the Asia continent after his first visit in Japan last month when he went to attend the burial ceremony of the former Premier of the Asian country, the late Shinzo Abe.