US has reaffirmed its support to Tanzania in health, education and agriculture. It has also pledged to work with other partners to solve conflicts in Africa.
Those were among issues discussed President Jakaya Kikwete met and his host President Barack Obama in Washington on Thursday. Mr Kikwete becomes the first African head of state to meet the US President.
Mr Obama was elected president last year and was sworn in on January 20 this year. A short statement about the meeting between the two leaders made available by the US embassy in Dar es Salaam yesterday, noted that the two presidents had "a valuable discussion on a range of issues."
"President Obama expressed his appreciation for the close bilateral relationship the United States shares with Tanzania,� reads part of the statement emailed to The Citizen.
The two presidents exchanged views on approaches to enhance US-Tanzania partnership on improving development policy.
According to the statement, the two leaders expressed desire to work together to solve common problems in future. Earlier, President Kikwete met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
In her remarks, Mrs Clinton described Tanzania as �a country that has made so much progress and has an extraordinary potential that we wish to partner with and assist in every way possible.
" President Kikwete thanked the US for continued support, saying: "I'm here to reaffirm our commitment for continued cooperation and friendship.
" He said Tanzania and US had excellent relations on political and bilateral levels as they "see eye-to-eye on many international issues.
" The meeting between the two presidents had, however, attracted both optimism and caution from across sections of business, political and civil society officials in Tanzania.
Opinion on the expectations from the highly publicised meeting was sharply divided, with some interviewees viewing it as an opportunity for the country to exploit for prosperity while others felt the nation should not expect much from the meeting.
The executive director of the Tanzania Investment Centre, Mr Emmanuel ole Naiko, said the country stood to benefit from the investor confidence that was likely to be boosted by the meeting between Mr Kikwete and Mr Obama.
He said Mr Kikwete's recent trips to the US had helped raise the levels of American investments in the country.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment