Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa met with Pavel Vziatkin, the Belarusian Ambassador to Tanzania, who resides in Nairobi, Kenya, for bilateral talks on the relationship between the two countries.
During Thursday’s meeting, which took place in the Prime Minister’s Sub-Office in Dar es Salaam, Mr Majaliwa expressed Tanzania’s commitment to continuing the bilateral relationship with Belarus for the benefit of all parties.
“Tanzania will continue to cooperate with Belarus in the sectors of mining, health, tourism, agriculture, and trade for the benefit of both countries,” read a statement from the Prime Minister’s official Instagram page.
The meeting comes two days after Ambassador Vziatkin held an engagement meeting with Tanzania’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Cosato Chumi, in the capital city of Dodoma.
The two proposed signing Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) and exchanging visits to significantly strengthen the bilateral relationship while considering global dynamics.
The diplomatic relations between Tanzania and Belarus commenced in 1996 and peaked in 2016 when, on October 31, the two countries held the Belarusian-Tanzania Business Forum in Minsk, where a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the National Centre for Marketing of Belarus and the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture (TCCIA).
In 2017, Belarus presented various draft MoUs to the government of Tanzania for consideration in areas related to foreign relations, education, and trade. However, no information indicates that the two governments finalised these MoUs as of today.
In January of this year, a business delegation from Belarus and representatives from the Chamber of Commerce of Belarus visited Tanzania. They met with their counterparts from the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry, and Agriculture (TCCIA). The delegation expressed interest in cooperating with Tanzanian businesses.
The trade volume between the two countries remains modest. It peaked in 2017 when Tanzania exported goods worth $46.6 million and imported approximately US$1.3 million from Belarus. However, trade relations appear to have diminished, with Tanzania exporting US$4.8 million and importing US$4 million in 2021.