NEW DELHI: Tanzania will be a major entry and exit point for Indian trade once there is a pan-African larger continental free trade arrangement, said External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar while speaking at a business event in Tanzania.
Jaishankar called on Tanzania’s President Samia Hassan on Saturday and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties in defence and security, maritime cooperation and capacity building.
Jaishankar arrived in Tanzania on Thursday after visiting Zanzibar. India is the biggest destination for Tanzanian exports, as per the government’s figures, and the country will become a major node for India due to its historical familiarity with the East African nation as well as because of a 55,000 strong diaspora.
“So even as Africa as a continent really lowers its internal barriers, for us, the case to be in Tanzania and to work with Tanzania becomes that much stronger…. Tanzania is very important… because from an Indian perspective, Africa means East Africa,” he said. Jaishankar pointed out that many new products are being added to the trade basket because of a duty-free tariff scheme extended by India to 33 African countries since 2008.
He said the RBI had cleared trade settlements in own currencies. “Three Indian banks based in Tanzania can now do trade settlements in each other’s currencies. I am told a few transactions have already taken place in India rupees and Tanzanian shillings, and certainly this will provide an additional mechanism to promote trade between our two countries,” he said.