16 January 2007
Tony Blair met with President Jakaya Kikwete on the second day of his three-day official visit to the UK.
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The President of the United Republic of Tanzania, Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Rt Hon Tony Blair MP, held talks in London on 16 January 2007 during President Kikwete’s official visit to the UK.
During his three day visit President Kikwete also held talks with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP; the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP; the Secretary of State for International Development, the Rt Hon Hilary Benn MP, and the Minister for Africa, Lord Triesman.
The United Kingdom and Tanzania share a common interest in working together on bilateral, multilateral and global issues. Our shared historical partnership has enabled links to flourish in many areas, from investment to education, development to peace-building.
President Kikwete and the Tanzanian government applaud the deep and persistent commitment of the Prime Minister, Tony Blair, and the British government to African development. The Commission for Africa, the G8 Gleneagles Summit and the Africa Progress Panel all provide crucial impetus.
Development
Tanzania has made significant strides in recent years; economic growth has exceeded 5% since 2000 and President Kikwete is committed to sustaining his predecessor’s impressive record of economic reform. Britain is one of Tanzania’s largest trading partners and its largest source of foreign direct investment. UK companies have invested about £230 million in Tanzania over the last 11 years. Trade between our countries continues to grow year on year.
Whilst Tanzania is still poor, it is making real progress - for example, increasing primary school enrolment to 96% and reducing infant mortality by a third over the last five years. Tanzania’s social stability and cohesion, its track record of constitutional government, its increasingly vigorous democracy, sound macroeconomic framework, reform of the public sector, and economic potential all provide a good basis for further progress. That is why the UK is confident in its significant development partnership with Tanzania.
In particular, the UK commends Tanzania for the strong progress it has made towards Universal Primary Education, placing it on track to meet the MDG of all children completing primary school by 2015. The Government of Tanzania welcomes UK support in highlighting the importance of achieving education for all and its commitment to help fund developing countries’ long term education plans to get every child to school.
The UK government recognises that Tanzania faces a significant challenge to scale up post-primary education and vocational training in order to cater for the greatly increased numbers of students graduating from primary school. An initiative to expand support for education has been developed by African Finance and Education Ministers, and the UK Chancellor of the Exchequer and other development partners, and was endorsed in Abuja in May 2006. In response, Tanzania, anticipating funding from the initiative, is refining its ten year plan for the sector. The British government is giving its full support to this work.
The UK announced on 15 January 2007 that it has committed £105 million (TSh 262bn) of general budget support for the Tanzanian government in 2007/8. This is an increase of over 15% from 2006/7 and will take the UK’s overall programme of support for Tanzania to around £400 million (TSh 1,000bn) for 2007-10.
The United Kingdom and the Tanzanian government consider budget support the most effective way to support the Tanzania’s National Strategy for Growth and Poverty Reduction (MKUKUTA). Budget support allows the Tanzanian government to decide for itself how best to allocate resources and how best to design, develop and deliver its own programmes in key sectors such as water and health. The Tanzanian and UK governments note the need for massive additional investment in these sectors given the lack of access to clean water and adequate health services, particularly in rural areas.
In addition, the UK government will continue to provide targeted assistance to enhance public sector reform, public financial management, the deepening of democracy, the strengthening of civil society, the improvement of the environment for private enterprise, and access to financial services. The UK also provides support indirectly, through its contributions to the European Commission, the United Nations, The World Bank and The African Development Bank.
This UK support will be integrated with the contributions of other development partners as part of the Joint Assistance Strategy for Tanzania (JAST). This strategy, signed with the Tanzanian government last month, will increase the effectiveness of aid in line with the international Paris Declaration of 2005.
The Tanzanian government is committed to sustain and enhance the reforms required to accelerate and maximise progress.
Peace and Security
The UK and Tanzanian governments will continue to work closely together on international peace and security - as they did in the United Nations Security Council in 2005 and 2006.
The UK welcomes President Kikwete’s leadership in Tanzania’s facilitation of the peace process in Burundi. He also played a key role in the process which saw the adoption of the Security Pact by the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region in December 2006. Tanzania and the UK are working closely together in the Somalia International Contact Group to build a lasting peace there. President Kikwete’s offer of assistance to international peacekeeping in Lebanon and Darfur underscores Tanzania’s commitment to working with the UK, the African Union and the wider international community, to support global peace-building. The United Kingdom is ready to provide training, where appropriate, to assist such deployments.
Both the UK and Tanzania have suffered the appalling effects of international terrorism on their own territory, and we both have important roles to play in international efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism. Tanzania’s record of inter-communal harmony is an important example for others. The UK welcomes the Tanzanian government’s plan to establish a Counter-Terrorism Centre, and stands ready to provide advice from its own experience. The UK is also providing forensic intelligence training to the Tanzanian police.
The wide scope of Tanzania - UK relations reflects our strong strategic partnership and our shared vision to develop our countries and help create a safer, more prosperous and well governed world.
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