Dar es Salaam. The Office of the Treasury Registrar (OTR) is finalising two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with China’s State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) and the China Enterprise Reform and Development Society (CERDS), opening a new framework for technical cooperation, research and capacity building in state asset management.
Treasury Registrar Nehemiah Mchechu said the OTR-SASAC agreement will establish continuous technical exchange between the two institutions, while the OTR-CERDS agreement will focus on research and capacity building.
Mr Mchechu said the agreements, which are expected to be ready by Friday or next Monday, will seek to strengthen cooperation between the institutions through the exchange of knowledge and professional expertise in areas including research, institutional capacity building, policy, governance reforms and performance evaluation.
He made the remarks on Wednesday, August 26, 2026, during a bilateral meeting between OTR and SASAC at the OTR offices in Dar es Salaam.
The meeting brought together officials from OTR, SASAC and CERDS, the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, H.E. Chen Mingjian, senior officials from the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA), Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) and Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL).
Mr Mchechu said the engagement would allow Tanzania to draw from China’s experience in state asset supervision, governance reforms, market-oriented SOE reforms and improving the quality and efficiency of state capital.
“Through our bilateral relationship with SASAC, we seek to learn how China successfully restructured and concentrated state capital into key strategic sectors to drive national economic growth,” he said.
OTR currently supervises 308 public entities, comprising 252 majority-owned and 56 minority-owned institutions.
President of CERDS Peng Huagang said China’s experience demonstrated that SOEs could pursue national strategic objectives while operating according to market principles.
“State-owned enterprise reform does not mean making SOEs smaller or eliminating them; the goal is to make SOEs stronger, better, and world-class market entities,” Mr Peng said.
He said market-oriented reforms were central to improving SOE competitiveness, while specialised state asset supervision was necessary to protect public wealth while allowing enterprises operational autonomy.
“Market-oriented reform is the fundamental pathway to enhance SOE competitiveness, enabling them to operate seamlessly alongside other ownership forms,” he said.
Mr Peng said the partnership between the two countries also presented opportunities to support Tanzania’s development priorities under the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
“FOCAC’s 10 partnership actions align with Dira 2050, offering vast opportunities for collaborative projects in transport, infrastructure, digital economy, and clean energy,” he said.
He pointed to the revitalisation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) and expansion of Dar es Salaam Port as areas with potential to unlock wider economic opportunities by connecting transport infrastructure with mining, agriculture, logistics and industrial centres.
The discussions subsequently turned to practical areas where Tanzanian and Chinese public enterprises could cooperate.
Tanzania Ports Authority Acting Director General Dr Boniphace Nobeji said improving the performance and efficiency of Tanzania’s ports would have an impact beyond the country’s borders.
“We believe that prosperity of any nation comes from trade and most trade is facilitated by efficient ports. No doubt that improvements in TPA port’s performance and efficiency will fast-track East and Central Africa’s economic development,” Dr Nobeji said.
He identified dry-port development, port technology transfer, capacity building and benchmarking Chinese port management practices as potential areas of cooperation.
Tanzania Railways Corporation Director General Eng. Machibya Shiwa highlighted investment opportunities in freight logistics terminals, private freight operations, railway industrial parks and multimodal logistics hubs.
He also identified a potential public-private partnership for constructing power transmission lines along railway corridors, with private investors recovering their investment through tariffs linked to cargo transported.
ATCL Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Mr John Nzunda identified aviation logistics, joint maintenance engineering, digital technologies, fuel management and specialised aviation staff training as areas for cooperation with Chinese SOEs.
ATCL operates domestic, regional and international passenger and cargo services, including flights to Guangzhou, China.
CCECC East Africa Ltd Executive Director Mr Lu Haiqiang said the company was ready to strengthen cooperation with Tanzanian state-owned enterprises in infrastructure planning, engineering, construction and operations.
He identified the revitalisation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) as a major opportunity for wider economic cooperation, saying the railway could connect strategic trade corridors with mining, agriculture, logistics and industrial hubs.
