London — PRESIDENT Jakaya Kikwete met with the UK International Development Minister, Mr Stephen O'Brien, on Tuesday evening where the latter pledged to support Tanzania's current initiatives to put in place a strong gas regime.

Mr O'Brien, who once lived in Mtwara, Tanzania, said that the country's current initiatives to strengthen structures for the gas sector are commendable since they are aimed at ensuring the Tanzania economy benefits.

President Kikwete thanked the UK for its continued support in Tanzania's development programmes. The government is currently putting up the gas sector instruments including the gas policy, gas master plan and the Gas Act to prepare for an imminent vibrant gas sector regime.

On Wednesday evening, President Kikwete was expected to lead his delegation to British Gas offices in Reading to familiarize himself with operations of the company which has exploration projects in Mtwara. BG Group works in co-operation with governments, partners and other stakeholders to find, develop and connect natural gas to markets worldwide.

A leading player in the global energy market, BG Group has businesses in more than 25 countries over five continents.

While the firm's headquarters are in the United Kingdom (UK), over 60 per cent of the talented professionals who make up the BG team are located outside the UK.

BG Group is a publicly listed company on the London Stock Exchange and is also listed on the US over-the-counter market known as 'International OTCQX'. Meanwhile, President Jakaya Kikwete was yesterday evening expected to join fellow global leaders to call for international commitment and resource mobilization to transform the lives of millions of women and girls.

Other leaders are UK Prime Minister David Cameroun and Uganda's President Kaguta Museveni. The global summit themed: 'Global Motherhood: Pushing for Family Planning To Save Lives' highlighted that it was prudent to make access to reproductive health a priority and address key challenges.

The London Summit on Family Planning was jointly hosted by the Gates Foundation and the United Kingdom Department for International Development (DFID), with support from UNFPA. This meeting brought together leaders from around the world to secure the commitments needed to ensure that 120 million additional girls and women around the world can access contraceptive information, services and supplies by 2020.

Women in some of the world's poorest countries risk death when falling pregnant and many of them hope to use contraceptives to lengthen the period between children. According to the organizers, the aim of the Summit is to launch a global movement to provide an additional 120 million women in the world's poorest countries access to lifesaving family planning information, services and supplies by 2020.