The United States Vice-President Kamala Harris has arrived in Tanzania on the second leg of her first tour to Africa.
She will meet President Samia Suluhu where she is expected to raise the issue of Tanzania’s non-alignment over the war in Ukraine.
The US has been keen to get more countries to condemn the Russian invasion.
The tour began on Sunday in Ghana before she flew late on Wednesday to Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam, where she met President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Thursday. The two women gave short statements to the media before going into a longer session of private talks.
“Working together, it is our shared goal to increase economic investment in Tanzania and strengthen our economic ties,” Harris said, listing a number of initiatives.
They included a new memorandum of understanding between the Export-Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) and the government of Tanzania.
That will facilitate up to $500m in financing to help US companies export goods and services to Tanzania in sectors including infrastructure, transportation, digital technology, climate and energy security and power generation.
Harris also mentioned a new partnership in 5G technology and cybersecurity, as well as a US-supported plan by LifeZone Metals to open a new processing plant in Tanzania for minerals that go into electric vehicle batteries.
China has invested heavily in Africa in the last two decades, and last November, Hassan met China’s President Xi Jinping during a state visit to Beijing.
Trade and investment featured heavily on their agenda, with the leaders agreeing to “elevate two-way trade and further expand the trade volume” and China saying it would explore providing market access to more Tanzanian goods.
