Remarks by the President during the opening of the East Africa Trade & Industrialization Week 2021 Fellow East Africans I am very delighted to welcome all our brothers and sisters from all of the East African Community member states, in particular, our Kenyan sisters and brothers, as well those from the rest of the African continent and beyond. Please feel free to enjoy the hospitality of the Tanzanian people and sample what Dar es Salaam has to offer. I am particularly glad that you have decided that this East Africa Trade & Industrialization Week 2021 should take place in Dar es Salaam at this particular time. It is, indeed, an honor for our country and we shall not let you down. Tanzania is full of opportunities that our sisters and brothers in the region can exploit and we welcome you to do so. We have a wonderfully young and educated labor force, with skills that are unmatched, ready to make their contribution at the shop floor of any industrial enterprise. We are proud that our forefathers had the intelligence and foresight to establish the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in the early years of our independence. Their successors have over time reformed this continental institution and transformed it to a Union. The African Union, as we know it today, continues to play a very crucial role in the development of our continent and Tanzania intends to fully embrace the new continental development blueprint, the Africa Agenda 2063, whose goal is to transform the continent and its people by the year 2063, less than 50 years from now. One of the key pillars of the Agenda is boosting intra-African trade and we envisaged to achieve this by establishing a Continental Free Trade Area that would ensure a borderless market in the continent. This is now a reality and we have an African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) in place. The African private sector is expected to play a key role in actualizing its full implementation and I salute the East African Chamber of Commerce, together with its sister chambers of Tanzania and Kenya, and the East African Community Secretariat, for organizing this event. The East Africa Trade & Industrialization Week 2021 Forum and Exhibition is a building block in realizing the desired goal of connecting the continent through trade. Closer home, in the East African Community member states, regional integration that is private sector driven is progressing well. In the new world order, we must strive to deepen economic integration of our region and the continent. Our growth will be accelerated by that of our neighbors and the same applies to them. If Kenya prospers, we prosper here at home. If Uganda prospers, we prosper. We must have the infrastructure and policies to make this happen. We need to invest in railways, the roads, and the airways. That is why our government has spent so much time and effort building the Central Corridor projects among other initiatives. These are the links that will drive our prosperity. They will make us, as a region, the center of a rising Africa and produce the jobs and prosperity our young people need. In closing, I would like to reiterate that trade is important in uniting nations. Nations which trade with each other hardly go to war with each. The adage is that they both need each other and fighting would disrupt that relationship. I shall continue to encourage the private sector to work with each other across borders so that we can interconnect the EAC region, and the continent, through trade. Thank you! H.E. Samia SULUHU HASSAN President United Republic of Tanzania Remarks by the Tanzania Minister for Foreign Affairs and East Africa Cooperation It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of the delegates to the East Africa Trade & Industrialization Week 2021. This event marks a major milestone in realizing the African dream of connecting the continent through trade, in order to realize sustainable economic development across the continent. Trade is at the core of regional and continental integration. We remain alive to global dynamics that touch on International trade and their impact on Africa’s aspiration. Previously, Africa has been driven by the need for independent governance, the search for total liberation and freedom for its people. With the realization of these dreams by the African countries, the focus has now shifting towards the need for economic empowerment for the African people. This raises the following question, as was posed by President Thabo MBEKI during a past event: “If we were sending an African negotiating delegation to Washington DC, what would they present on behalf of the continent?” he posed a similar question for Beijing and Brussels. It is hoped that through events such as the East African Trade & Industrialization Week, we can now be able to package the numerous investment opportunities that exist within the continent, and thus realize economic empowerment for the people of Africa. Since assuming office, H. E. President Samia SULUHU HASSAN has repeatedly underscored the value of strengthening the African trade and integration institutions in the push towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In our bilateral engagements, Tanzania is focused on development through the policy of enabling infrastructure so that goods and services can be transported easily across national borders. This vision is driven by the commitment to be inclusive, to ensure that we do not leave anyone, especially the weak members of our society, behind. For the next five years, the Ministry will dedicate its energy, time and resources in line with the regional and international integration agenda and other key strategic issues that will shape our engagement with our partners and stakeholders. We hope that through the East African Trade & Industrialization Week, along with other similar events being planned all over the continent, will showcase the vast opportunities that exist as we work towards strengthening the Continental borderless market. In closing, Tanzania is keen to learn from, and partner with, other African countries in the implementation of the AfCFTA. We are, therefore, happy to partner with the EAC member states, the Chambers of Commerce and Industry through its apex regional chamber EACCIA, the Pan African Chamber of Commerce & Industry (PACCI), the Directorate of Customs and Trade of the EAC Secretariat, the Department of Trade and Industry of the African Union Commission, as well as UNECA’s Africa Trade Policy Centre (ATPC), to deliver the East Africa Trade & Industrialization Week 2021. Hon/Amb Liberata R. MULAMULA Minister for Foreign Affairs & East Africa Cooperation Remarks by Tanzania Minister for Trade and Industry The East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (EACCIA) will host the East Africa Trade & Industrialization Week 2021 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania at the end of August 2021. This forum is geared towards promoting economic growth in the region and the African Continent, at large, through the network of Chambers of Commerce and other business associations, and to advance the EAC regional integration. The forum will also promote the Continent’s development agenda as envisaged by the African Union Commission. This forum is held at an opportune time immediately after bringing into force the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) trade deal on January 1st 2021. As Government and the Ministers responsible for EAC market integration, we commit to continue deepening and widening East African regional integration through various organs and institutions as mandated by the Treaty. We will also strengthen partnerships with other Regional Economic blocks (RECs) to deepen the Continent’s market integration in order to ensure that we realize AfCFTA and boost intra-African trade. The Tanzania Government appreciates EACCIA as a valued regional partner and will continue involvement with the organization through the Tanzania Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture (TCCIA) in our development endeavors. To this end, we are adopting and implementing policies which provide immense opportunities for investment and entrepreneurship across the product and service sectors. I therefore welcome all delegates to this trade week and look forward to strategic outcomes that will enable us make the business environment, for all investors and entrepreneurs in Tanzania, and in the region, even better than it is currently. Hon/Prof Kitila MKUMBO Minister for Industry & Trade United Republic of Tanzania Remarks by Chairman of the Board of East African Chamber of Commerce, Industry & Agriculture On behalf the business community in the East African Community member states, I take this opportunity to welcome you most sincerely to the East African Trade & Industrialization Week 2021 Forum and Exhibition here in Dar es Salaam. It is an event which we intend to host every year, jointly with our member chambers of commerce in the region and the Secretariat of the East African Community. The EATIW 2021 takes place as a result of the Africa Trade Week 2016 which took place in Addis Ababa and was hosted by the African Union Commission (AUC) and which many of the chambers of commerce in the continent participated in. We challenged ourselves at that time to start similar events in our regions. As we all know, the current trend in the globe is where countries and regions are coming together and creating mega-trading blocks for purposes of furthering their trade relations. Of course, Africa is not left out in the formation of mega-trading blocs (MTBs). It is now part of African Union Commission’s (AUC) “Agenda 2063” Development Blueprint and “Boosting Intra-Africa Trade” (BIAT) is a major objective of the Agenda. The Continent is thus encouraging the strengthening of the regional trading arrangements and consolidation of some of the existing ones, e.g.