Dar es Salaam: The governments of Tanzania and Egypt have agreed to strengthen mutual relationship in health, infrastructure, agriculture, tourism, trading and investment. Speaking at a press conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Relations Bernard Membe said Tanzania and Egypt had agreed to strengthen their bilateral ties they had since independence. In their agreement, the government of Egypt will send agricultural experts in Tanzania to bring their know-how in the agricultural sector and boost production.
“We have about 25 million hectares of arable land that needs to be cultivated. We believe that agricultural experts from Egypt will help bring about agricultural revolution in this regard,” the Minister said.
Membe also said Egypt was doing well in irrigation system, which depended on the Nile River. “A total of 78 million Egyptians depend on the Nile River hence without Nile there is no Egypt. If the water level goes down, then the Egyptians will not be able to do any irrigation farming,” he said.
During their agreement in the Dar es Salaam City, Egyptian Minister for Foreign Affairs Mohamed Kamel Amr said Egypt and Tanzania had agreed to mitigate the climate change that affected Nile River Basin.
However, Membe noted that the Nile Basin member countries would hold a conference in Nairobi in few weeks’ time to ensure the Nile River Basin was well monitored and utilised.
The minister also said through the mutual relationship, Egypt would also bring medical doctors to improve the health sector in the country. "Egypt is one of the countries in Africa that has a lot of medical doctors. Through this agreement, Egypt will give us their doctors to improve our health sector,” he said.
Egypt Air plans to start direct flights from Tanzania to other parts of the world to ensure Tanzania expands the tourism sector.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian minister said their country was now doing well after the political tragedy and their new era of democracy and the last phase of transformation. “In June we will complete our constitution and we will have a new president,” he said.
Responding to a question over former President Hosn Mubbarak’s case, he said the Egyptian court would play its role, follow its rules and bring about fairness.
