The fourth Italy-Tanzania Business Forum, held in Dar es Salaam on 11 and 12 February 2025, saw the participation of 48 Italian companies and around 300 Tanzanian companies, for a total of approximately 500 B2B meetings. This significant turnout highlighted the strengthening of economic relations between the two countries, as underlined by the Italian Ambassador to Tanzania Giuseppe Sean Coppola.
“In this Forum there was much talk about agro-industry, but also about infrastructure, logistics, medicine and healthcare,” the Ambassador said in an interview with Africa e Affari. “These are all sectors in which Italy can play an important role, together with the blue economy and fishing, which is already active with the export of fish farmed in Lake Victoria to Italy. Other key areas are packaging, the cold chain, forest management and renewables, in all their forms. Finally, I would add the mining sector, on which we are working also at the European Union level, with a strategic project to map Tanzanian resources.”
The presence of prominent representatives from local institutions underlined the interest of Tanzania – a new priority country of the Mattei Plan – in strengthening economic relations with Italy, which have been constantly increasing since 2021, with trade reaching EUR 235 million in 2024. All the Tanzanian government representatives present, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, reaffirmed the message of President Samia Suluhu Hassan: “our doors are open”.
With an estimated GDP growth ranging between 5% and 6% over the next five years, abundant natural resources and a growing population, Tanzania has positive economic prospects. The political stability of the country, which has never seen a coup or civil war since its independence in 1961, is a further factor attracting investors.
The meeting in Dar es Salaam – organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in collaboration with ITA – highlighted the complementarity between the Italian and Tanzanian economies, especially in the agro-industry, construction and pharmaceutical sectors. The discussions focused on three macro-areas of strategic cooperation: agritech, blue and green economy and pharmaceuticals. The round table discussions dedicated to these sectors facilitated the dialogue between local needs and the solutions proposed by Italian companies, supported by the Italian System. The focus was deliberately not on tourism, a sector in which collaboration is already at a very high level.
The opportunity then emerged to directly import products such as cashews and coffee from Tanzania, currently purchased through other EU countries such as the Netherlands and Germany. The problem of the spread of “Italian sounding” products in Tanzania was also highlighted.
One of the other proposals made concerns the creation of an association of Italian companies in Tanzania, modelled on the Chambers of Commerce that already exist for other countries such as Germany, France, the United Kingdom, the Unite States, Switzerland, China and India. The lack of a similar structure for Italy limits the growth potential of Italian companies in the country.
Thanks to the participation of Italian institutions, meetings were started with representatives of various Tanzanian administrations, including the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC), the Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) and the Tanzania National Roads Agency (TANROADS). Local institutions put forward proposals for interventions in the sectors of renewable energy, agricultural modernization, health and infrastructure, including the SGR railway that connects Dodoma to Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi.
The Forum also paid particular attention to the academic world and cooperation with civil society. During the Conference, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between La Sapienza University and the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), while the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Arusha confirmed its key role in supporting the Tanzanian private sector.
At the end of the Forum, in view of better understanding the local context and investment opportunities in Tanzania, the Italian delegation participated in two days of field visits to Bagamoyo, where a special economic zone will be created, and to the island of Zanzibar, which attracts large investment in tourism.
