New Delhi: As part of its commitment to the Global South, India on Monday announced 1,000 additional Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) slots for Tanzania to be used over years in new and emergent fields like Smart Ports, Space, Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence, Aviation Management, etc. The announcement came during the meeting between PM Modi and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Monday in New Delhi.
Earlier in the day, The Tanzanian President was accorded a ceremonial welcome at the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Tanzanian President arrived in Delhi on Sunday on a four-day visit. The Tanzanian side expressed interest in cooperating with the Government of India in the field of Blue economy including tourism, maritime trade, services and infrastructure, marine scientific research, capacity in seabed mining, ocean conservation and maritime safety and security.
The Tanzanian side appreciated that the Indian scholarship and capacity-building programme has tremendously contributed to its Human Resource Development. India offers 450 Indian Technical and Economic Cooperation (ITEC) scholarships for capacity building and 70 Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) scholarships for long-term programmes in 2023-24.
The Indian side announced the decision to increase the number of long-term scholarships (ICCR) from 70 to 85 for 2023-24. As part of its commitment to the Global South, India also announced 1,000 additional ITEC slots for Tanzania to be used over five years in new and emergent fields like Smart Ports, Space, Biotechnology, Artificial Intelligence and Aviation Management.
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India and Tanzania further agreed to cooperate under the framework of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) to ensure a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable Indian Ocean Region. The two sides expressed commitment to increase bilateral trade volumes and towards this end, directed the respective officials to explore new areas of trade. It was further agreed that both sides should harmonise trade volume data and take initiatives to further enhance bilateral trade volumes by organising visits of business delegations, business exhibitions and interaction with business communities.
The Tanzanian President acknowledged that India is amongst the top five investment sources for Tanzania whereby 630 investment projects worth USD 3.74 billion have been registered thus creating 60,000 new jobs. Both leaders welcomed recent trends of renewed interest among Indian businesspersons for investment in Tanzania. Both sides agreed to explore the possibility of setting up an Investment Park in Tanzania, The Tanzanian side assured full support in this regard.
The two leaders expressed a desire to expand bilateral trade using Local currencies. They noted that the Reserve Bank of India (Indian Central Bank) has cleared the way for trade using local currencies i.e; Indian Rupee (INR) & Tanzanian Shilling by allowing the authorised banks in India to open Special Rupee Vostro Accounts (SRVA) of correspondent banks of Tanzania and that transactions using this mechanism have already materialised.
The two sides further agreed to continue with the consultations to address any concerns to ensure the sustainability of this arrangement. Both sides recognised that agriculture sector cooperation remains a strong pillar in the relations whereby 98% of product lines from Tanzania are imported tariff-free using India’s Duty-Free Tariff Preference (DFTP) scheme. India remains a major destination for Tanzanian cashew nuts, pigeon peas, spices, avocados and other agricultural commodities. Both sides agreed to further revitalise cooperation in this sector.
The Tanzanian leader also appreciated India’s development partnership assistance in the areas of water, health, education, capacity building, scholarships, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) among others. The two sides also expressed satisfaction with Lines of Credit (LoCs) extended by India to Tanzania that amount to over USD 1.1 billion covering fields of drinking water infrastructure, agriculture and defence. It was specifically noted that water projects in 24 towns of Tanzania worth USD 500 million through a Line of Credit scheme are presently being implemented. Once completed, it would provide easy access to safe drinking water to about 6 million residents of these regions.
