PRESIDENT Samia Suluhu Hassan is today commencing her six-day historic state visit to the Republic of Korea at the invitation of the country's President, Mr Yoon Suk Yeol.
While in the Asian nation, the two countries are expected to seal a significant soft loan framework agreement worth 2.5bn US dollars (about 6.6tri/-) to fund crucial development projects in the country over the next five years (2024-2028).
According to Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Mr January Makamba, other agreements to be signed during the visit will enhance cooperation aviation, the blue economy, strategic minerals, culture, arts and agriculture.
Mr Makamba said, while in Seoul, Dr Samia will hold bilateral talks with Mr Yeol regarding key areas of cooperation, including education, health and infrastructure, which will be featured by the signing of seven Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs).
Among the institutions that will sign the MoUs include the Geological Survey of Tanzania (GST), which will sign a binding framework with Korea's Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resource to foster collaboration in mineral survey and mapping.
President Samia will also receive an Honorary Doctorate in Aviation Management from the Korea Aerospace University (KAU) to recognise her transformative actions, policy interventions, and pragmatic leadership that have transformed the country's aviation sector in terms of airport infrastructure development, investment in capacity building, and expansion of fleets for both passenger and cargo planes due to the revitalisation of the Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL).
President Samia will also participate in the Korea-Africa Summit, which will bring together Heads of State and Government from Korea and African countries among others.
An economist-cum-investment banker, Dr Hildebrand Shayo, said Dr Samia's state visit will set a fine example of building a new type of international relations featuring mutual relations, respect, fairness, justice and winwin cooperation.
"I believe that no matter how the international landscape evolves, Tanzania and South Korea will always view and approach the bilateral relationship from a broader and long-term perspective," he said.
Dr Shayo added that "this will help these two nations work together towards the goal of building a community with a shared future for humankind and making their due contribution to world peace, stability, development and prosperity."
He said with the two sides' concerted efforts, they are confident that the visit will be a complete success and usher in an even brighter future for the Tanzania - South Korea relationship.
Considering this important visit, the 'Daily News' has come up with a special analysis on Tanzania-South Korea trade relations.
THE diplomatic relations between Tanzania and Korea go back to 1992 when the embassy of Korea opened in Dar es Salaam, now commemorating almost 32 years of diplomatic relations between Tanzania and the Republic of Korea, and four years after the official opening of Tanzania embassy in Seoul.
For Tanzania, President Samia Suluhu Hassan's six-day state visit to South Korea at the invitation of the country's President, Mr Yoon Suk Yeol, from 31st May 2024, will represent the climax of a series of events that will elevate and cement relations with South Korea.
Unquestionably, since Dr Samia took up the high office in Tanzania, one thing that has made Tanzania's continued development possible, building on her predecessors, is her commitment to open up the country once again to the rest of the world.
Dr Samia's visit will witness, among other things, the signing of several contracts that will include a 2.5 billion US dollar-soft loan to fund crucial development projects over the next five years in Tanzania.
To many, this signifies strong bonds and considerable potential for investment growth between Tanzania and South Korea. Such commitment and an investment boost will fully open South Korea up to Tanzania and, in the bigger picture, will move faster to expand market access to several services.
Dr Samia's visit will light up the path ahead with the torch of history and work toward a better future for South Korea-Tanzania relations.
President Yeol and Dr Samia are expected to witness the signing of several agreements that will include enhancing cooperation in aviation, blue economy, strategic minerals, culture and arts, alongside a pact on agriculture.
Through such an agreement, the two nations will jointly uphold mutual benefits that will decouple benefits and the building of barriers while sticking to farsightedness and promoting the equal and orderly multi-polarisation of the world.
It is important to remember that bilateral trade between Tanzania and South Korea has grown yearly, per trade records.
For example, in 2022 records show that Tanzania exported goods worth 66 million US dollars to South Korea.
The main products that Tanzania exported to South Korea were raw Tobacco, Copper Ore and precipitated Copper.
During the last 32 years, the exports of Tanzania to South Korea have increased at an annualised rate of 13.9 per cent from 1.97 million US dollars in 1995 to 66 million in 2022. Likewise, although many might not be aware, South Korea exported goods worth 344 million US dollars to Tanzania in 2022 alone.
The main products exported from South Korea to Tanzania were Refined Petroleum, X-Ray Equipment and Locomotive Parts.
During the last 32 years, the exports of South Korea to Tanzania have increased at an annualised rate of 11.7 per cent, from 17.4 million US dollars in 1995 to 344 million US dollars in that year.
According to the Observatory of Economic Complexity (OEC) world database, bilateral trade byproducts and trade value between South Korea and Tanzania by 2022 reached millions of dollars, as briefly illustrated below.
From the comparative advantage, the South Korea - Tanzania trade relationship point of view based on these figures for the years examined alone indicates an excellent opportunity for both nations.
This table provides a bigger picture that compares trade between South Korea and Tanzania by-product, considering products that both South Korea and Tanzania traded.
The table shows that South Korea had a significant net trade with Tanzania in the exports of mineral products, plastics, rubber and chemical products compared to Tanzania's net trade with South Korea in exports.
Further analysis of the product space from the BACI database in the context of competitive advantages, although not presented here due to space limits, shows that South Korea has a substantial comparative advantage over Tanzania, just like Tanzania has a comparative advantage over South Korea.
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To what degree will President Samia's state tour to South Korea present Tanzania with new prospects to increase its sales to South Korea? The issue needs to be explored.
What actions may Tanzanian entrepreneurs take to increase their sales to South Korea? To benefit from a relationship that will aid in developing relations between these two nations due to Dr Samia's visit? I do not doubt that Dr Samia's state visit will set a fine example of building a new type of international relations featuring mutual relations, respect, fairness, justice and win-win cooperation.
I believe that no matter how the international landscape evolves, Tanzania and South Korea will always view and approach the bilateral relationship from a broader and longterm perspective.
This will help these two nations work together towards the goal of building a community with a shared future for humankind and making their due contribution to world peace, stability, development and prosperity.
With the two sides' concerted efforts, we are confident that this visit will be a complete success and usher in an even brighter future for the Tanzania -South Korea relationship.
A relationship that will light up the path ahead with the torch of history and work towards an even better future for South Korea-Tanzania relations.
For Tanzania, enhancing South Korean cooperation will be rewarding to both nations. Still, it will be more rewarding for Tanzania to continue to energise its economic growth and to improve job creation that will emerge from investments made and financial activities initiated.
