Nairobi — When embarking on the privatisation exercise meant to restructure its economic system, the Tanzanian government had pledged to remain as a partner that would be responsible for ensuring working economic policies and providing appropriate infrastructure for the private sector to build the economy upon.

In view of this, the government has been hosting and is participating on numerous local and international forums, which includes the Investor's Round Table, the Presidential Manufacturers' Awards and the just ended Economist and Russia-Tanzania Economic Forums.

These venues have been used by stakeholders to air their views, notably on the failure by the government to improve the business environment -- ensuring production costs in Tanzania remain high and imported goods continue to be cheaper than locally manufactured ones.

This tendency to neglect our own industries, leaving them unprotected, compromises the country's reform agenda.