The Alabama trade and business development mission to Africa which visited Tanzania’s commercial capital, Dar es Salaam to hold business to business matchmaking meetings, has recently concluded its trip announcing that basis have been set for the development of strategic collaboration and new markets.
The business trip to Tanzania aimed at exploring trade and investment opportunities to enhance relationships developed in 2013 when a Tanzanian delegation visited the American State.
Tanzania was chosen between eight possible destinations in Africa since it is one of the overseas markets that gives a key opportunity to Alabama’s small enterprises seeking to cultivate partnerships and develop export opportunities, explained Alabama’s Governor Robert Bentley.
These opportunities are mostly in agriculture, energy, infrastructure, and logistics, explained University of Alabama Center for Economic Development (UACED) Director Nisa Miranda.
In addition, Tanzania’s private sector is interested in joint ventures, training and technical assistance which bring many opportunities for Alabama’s industrial sector by offering training in those areas, she added.
Tanzania is considered as a very promising market due to its economy which is one of the fastest growing in the world and offers the right time for Alabama businesses to enter its market and others in the Sub Saharan region, explained Alabama Department of Commerce’s Director of International Trade, Hilda Lockhart.
It is supported by the fact that Tanzania, together with other African countries, will have a middle-class larger than that in the USA by 2025 bringing tremendous opportunities for Alabama businesses to raise exports, noted Alabama’s Chamber of Commerce’s President and CEO, Bill Sisson.
US exports to Tanzania have risen from USD 78.2 million in 2003 to USD 270 million in 2013 according to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
According to a recent research from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Luis, Alabama exports to Tanzania have grown from USD 116,503 to over USD 850,000 in the same period.
