The first state visit of Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi
to Tanzania from Monday to Tuesday of this week, at the invitation of
his Tanzanian counterpart President John Pombe Magufuli, has come at a
time when the geopolitical-economic landscape of the River Nile basin
and Africa at large is briskly changing.
The visit not
only confirms the continuation of a partnership dating back to the
Nyerere–Nasser epoch, but also presents an opportunity to boost trade
and investments in the two African brother countries and indicates that
Tanzania is open for business and tourism.
High-level
visits from Dar es Salaam and Cairo that picked up under previous
Tanzanian and Egyptian presidents set out a comprehensive set of mutual
interests, expectations and challenges in the two countries and in the
wider Nile River basin, which spreads over 10 countries, including
Tanzania and Egypt.
Previous visits also accentuated concerns about issues that limit the space of the Tanzania-Egypt bilateral relations.
Apart
from decoding the contemporary undercurrents of the bilateral
relations, these common interests, expectations and challenges dominated
the joint press conference of Presidents Magufuli and El-Sisi held at
the State House in Dar es Salaam on Monday.
President
El-Sisi’s visit offers a critical avenue for Tanzania and Egypt to
reiterate their commitment to strengthening regional order and stability
in the view of the rapidly changing political and economic winds in the
Nile River basin and the priorities of President Magufuli’s Tanzania.
For
instance, Tanzania’s maritime boundaries in the Indian Ocean – a vital
geopolitical hub that stretches north to the Suez Canal in Egypt and
connects trade routes in Africa, the Asia-Pacific region, the Middle
East, and Australia – has shifted the focus to defense and security
agendas.
Indeed, both sides announced they will remain
committed to having an ongoing dialogue with the other countries, over
issues such as the Nile transboundary waters and counter-terrorism, as
the best way of ensuring peace and security in the region and the
continent at large.
The sojourn of Egypt’s President in
Tanzania has taken place in the background of a deal on tariff offers
with Egypt and the South African Customs Union that would allow the East
African Community partner states to ratify the SADC-EAC-COMESA
Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) treaty by December 2017.
Egypt
already ratified the TFTA treaty in May this year and is reportedly
reviewing its offer of 100 per cent tariff liberalisation to the EAC, of
which Tanzania is a member, on the basis of reciprocity. It might be
prudent to find a common ground on the unresolved issues of rules of
origin and tariff offers.
What’s more is that the visit
signals the need to reactivate and revitalize the Tanzania-Egypt Joint
Commission after about 20 years of inactivity, and it’s good that both
sides have agreed to this. This shows that Tanzania and Egypt are ready
to adopt a more practical attitude towards the relationship that aims to
improve bilateral trade and investments between the two countries.
Egypt
has reportedly registered projects worth $887.02 million (Sh1.95
billion) in Tanzania so far. Carbon Holdings, Egypt’s largest developer
and operator of mid-to-downstream oil and gas projects, has shown
interest in constructing an Ammonia gas plant in southern Tanzania while
other Egyptian companies from key sectors like agriculture, mining,
healthcare and the service industry have already established operations
in Tanzania.
It’s not that Tanzania’s Magufuli
government is ignorant of Egypt’s economic afflictions like mounting
debts, negligible economic growth and dwindling foreign reserves, it’s
just that confidence in Egypt’s financial future is strong because of
President El-Sisi’s sweeping growth-oriented reforms, pledge of Gulf aid
to Egypt, and ongoing negotiations with the IMF and World Bank for
loans. All of this is expected to ensure robust economic growth for
Egypt.
This matters to Tanzania’s industrialisation
goal and the country’s need for foreign investment amidst a tough
domestic economic climate. And Egypt is seen as having a key role to
play in Tanzania’s future through, for instance, positive joint ventures
with the Tanzanian private sector. President Magufuli is looking at a
subterranean engagement with Egypt and, actually, talks have generated a
consensus to buttress bilateral cooperation in trade.
President
El-Sisi’s visit is likely to increase cooperation in the energy sector,
which has so much unexploited potential. Tanzania and Egypt can
collaborate in oil and gas with a view to forming strategic partnerships
in upstream, midstream and downstream joint ventures; refineries; and
petro-chemical plants. Egyptian companies need to seize emerging
opportunities in the Tanzanian energy sector that seeks foreign capital
inflows.
Egyptian companies can invest in worthwhile
hydro, wind, solar and other forms of renewal energy projects and roads,
bridges, railways, seaport and airport infrastructure projects as well
as in the economic zones in Tanzania. Setting up transshipment
activities and logistics and technology hubs would be of interest to
Tanzania and portends a win-win situation for both countries.
Ultimately,
however, President Magufuli’s equation for a lasting engagement with
the Egyptian government must unavoidably factor in the growing interest
of China and its multinational enterprises in the infrastructure and
industrialization drive that Tanzania has embarked on. These enterprises
are seeking for space in Magufuli’s new Tanzania which needs foreign
investment capital. Here, Egypt can play a vital role and it should find
its due space.
