Beijing/Changsha/Dar es Salaam. Tanzania has intensified efforts to strengthen economic and diplomatic relations with China through a series of high-level engagements led by the minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Amb Mahmoud Thabit Kombo.
In a tour that has taken him across several Chinese cities, Minister Kombo has held bilateral meetings with senior Chinese government officials, attended key multilateral forums, and met with business leaders to promote Tanzania as a viable destination for investment and trade.
Mr Kombo participated in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Coordinators’ Meeting held in Beijing on June 11 and 12.
The meeting brought together foreign ministers from Africa and China to assess the implementation of previous FOCAC resolutions and chart new pathways for strategic cooperation.
On the sidelines of the meeting, Mr Kombo held consultations with China’s Foreign Minister Mr Wang Yi—also a member of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC)—where the two reaffirmed their commitment to bolstering bilateral ties.
Their talks centred on priority areas including infrastructure development, health, trade, technology, and education.
Following the Beijing engagements, the minister travelled to Changsha, the capital of Hunan Province, to attend the 4th China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo (CAETE), held from June 13 to 15.
Organised under the themeChina and Africa: Together towards Modernisation, the expo served as a major platform for promoting investment, technology transfer, and business linkages between China and African countries.
Tanzania was represented by nearly ten companies showcasing products and services in sectors such as infrastructure, energy, agriculture, mining, and entrepreneurship.
The exhibition attracted more than 4,700 Chinese firms and 30,000 African businesses, signalling a growing appetite for bilateral commercial exchange.
Speaking at the opening of the event, minister Wang Yi reaffirmed China’s commitment to supporting Africa’s economic transformation through trade liberalisation, industrial capacity-building, and access to the Chinese market.
He also reiterated that China remains a reliable development partner in Africa’s modernisation drive.
While in Changsha, Mr Kombo visited the headquarters of Chinese pharmaceutical company Hunan ER-Kang, which operates a drug manufacturing plant in Dar es Salaam.
He urged the company to expand its production capacity in Tanzania to meet growing national and regional demand for essential medicines.
“The availability of essential medicines is central to the government’s mission of improving healthcare services. Enhancing local production will reduce our reliance on imports and enable Tanzania to meet its regional obligations under the SADC medical supply framework,” he told the company’s executives.
Tanzania, through the Medical Stores Department (MSD), recently secured a contract to supply medicines to 16 Southern African Development Community (SADC) member states—an opportunity that demands robust pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity.
Mr Kombo assured ER-Kang of the government’s continued support and encouraged the company to leverage the historic and strategic ties between Tanzania and China to grow its regional footprint.
In response, ER-Kang’s Chairman, Mr Fangwen Shuan, pledged to expand the firm’s operations in Tanzania.
He also revealed plans to diversify investment into other sectors, including iron production and value addition in agricultural products such as cashew nuts, groundnuts, and sesame.
The minister’s itinerary also includes scheduled visits to Sichuan and Shenzhen provinces for engagements with Chinese provincial leaders and top executives from investment companies.
These meetings are aimed at promoting Tanzania’s investment climate and encouraging Chinese businesses to explore opportunities in key sectors.
Mr Kombo would visit the Tanzanian Consulate General in Guangzhou, where he would meet with Tanzanian nationals living in southern China to hear their views and address any challenges they may face.
Tanzania and China enjoy long-standing diplomatic relations, built on mutual respect and a shared vision for development.
Mr Kombo’s tour is seen as a strategic move to advance this cooperation through tangible economic partnerships, particularly in health, trade, and industrial development.
