Tanzania invites Indian investments in tourism, uranium mining

Tanzania has invited Indians to invest in diverse sectors in this East African country, including tourism, uranium, gas and gold mining, agriculture and ICT. The invitation to invest was extended by the Tanzanian Prime Minister, Mr Mizengo Kitanza Peter Pinda, in an hour- long free-wheeling chat with a group of visiting Indian newspersons.

“Tourism is just one of the sectors in which India can invest by either building hotels or other businesses. Indians investing in tourism will probably help Tanzania more but investing will be a good opportunity for India,” said the Prime Minister. Mr Peter Pinda indicated that interest was already being shown by “some parties” in uranium mining. “It still has to be seen whether they will buy and process (the uranium) for their own use. But uranium mining is an area that is very new,” the Prime Minister said.

Tanzania recently allowed a Russian firm to undertake mining of uranium in the south of the country. Sources indicated that after the passage of the nuclear deal, India started looking abroad for multiple sources of uranium to feed the ambitious nuclear programme it was planning. Indian officials had rejected uranium from Tanzania, claiming it was not first-grade material

However, soon enough, Russia, Australia and some others countries began to stand in queue for rights to mine uranium from Tanzania. Sources felt that one way to move ahead India's ambitious initiative with Africa was to partner in various ventures, including this one.

Emphasising on the depth and long history of friendship between India and Tanzania, Mr Peter Pinda called India a “good friend” to whom the East Africans can turn to in times of need. Giving an example of this friendship, the Prime Minister pointed out that if there was an issue say on whether to allow a company from Russia or the US to mine uranium here, Tanzania was likely to turn to India to get some impartial advice rather than either of the two developed countries.

“The good thing about India-Tanzania relations is that since we have very long and good relations, it gives us a very strong basis on which the two countries can work together. We are trying to see how we can best harness this relationship,” the Prime Minister added.

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