Washington — THE US has assured Tanzania of its full support in war against poaching.

Deputy Secretary of the US Department of the Interior, Mr David Hayes said his government will work hard in helping Tanzania fight poaching incidences in the country by offering moral and technical support.

He said his government was ready to work closely with Tanzania because issues of natural resources are now global challenges which need to be addressed immediately and jointly.

Mr Hayes made the commitment before a visiting Tanzanian delegation led by the Minister for Natural Resources and Tourism, Ambassador Khamis Kagasheki, at the Department's Headquarters in Washington yesterday.

"US has a responsibility of fostering cordial relationship with Tanzania so as to ensure sustainability of natural resources in the country," said Secretary Hayes.

Minister Kagasheki who had earlier said that Tanzania has taken deliberate efforts to fight poaching in the country but still US support is highly needed because it is very challenging, involving some stable financial muscles network globally.

Amb. Kagasheki said that the requested support from US includes technical assistance by providing some expertise on the suppliers of best intelligence surveillance devices and skills as well as coming up with new approaches and strategies to tackle the existing organized poaching crimes.

In a more positive and promising move, a decision was reached between the visiting Tanzanian delegation and the United States to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two countries which will be signed in December, this year in Tanzania.

The MoU will basically act as a baseline of cooperation between the two countries and will focus on how best the two countries can work together in ensuring existence of sustainability of conservation sector for the betterment of the current and future generations.

"I appeal to the United States that we have to conserve, we need to preserve so as to protect our wildlife from extinction and that conservation should be the number one priority to Tanzania and the world," said Amb. Kagasheki.

Minister Kagasheki and his delegation had earlier visited and held discussions with officials from the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Council on Environmental Quality from the Department of Environment.

Others were National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations, whereby the threat of poaching as an organized crime was discussed as a threat to conservation sector in the country and the way forward was reached.