OFFICIALS from China - Africa Development Fund ( CAD Fund) led by the Fund's Vice-President and Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Mr Yu Zhuorui are are in the country to explore more business and investment opportunities.
Permanent Secretary in the President's Office (Investment and Trade), DrTausi Kida, over the weekend, held a brief meeting with the executives of the Fund.
The main objective of the meeting was to dis- cuss areas of investments where Tanzania can benefit more from CAD Fund through Chinese companies.
The Fund has already co- funded some projects in Tanzania including Maweni Limestone Limited, a cement manufacturer in Tanga, Star Time (Star Media (Tanzania) Limited and Sisal project in Morogoro. DrTausi urged the Fund's leadership to increase investments in Tanzania since the country has all the potential that Chinese companies can exploit by establishing investments.
The Permanent Secretary asked the Fund to think of investing in areas such as cashewnut value addition, wheat plantation, fertiliser manufacturing, renewable energy, transport infrastructure development such as roads and ports.
Other areas that the Fund could invest in include the construction of Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), fish-eries in Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and facilitation of Chinese investors to come and set up investments in already exiting industrial parks such as SINO TAN Industrial Parks, KAMAKA Industrial Park and the like.
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In response, Mr Yu Zhuorui appreciated the reforms carried out by the government, saying the Fund is analysingareas of invest-ment so that itcan encourage Chinese investors to come and invest in the country under the facilitation of the Fund.
The meeting was also attended by Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) Executive Director Gilead Teri who emphasized the importance of Chinse companies to come and invest in the country.
"The time to invest is now and the Centre is more will- ing and ready to support and facilitate all investors from China because Tanzania is ranked by various interna- tional institutions as the best investment destination in Africa," said Mr Teri.
CAD Fund is a Chinese private equity solely funded by China Development Bank, a Chinese government policy bank.
The objective of the Fund is to stimulate invest- ment in Africa by Chinese companies in different sectors including manufacturing, mining, agriculture, infrastructure, natural resources and other sectors.
CAD fund has set aside a budget amounting to US$10billions to be used for investments by Chinese companies in Africa.
The CAD Fund officials'visit in the country is the outcome of the visit conducted by President SamiaSuluhu Hassan in China in November 2022.
