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Speaking during the official opening of the 39th Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF) on Friday the President said the fourth phase government struggles to improve investment climate.
"Looking at the hurdles that affect investment in the country, the government realised that graft hinders operations at weigh bridges, thus introduced weigh-in-motion machines that send out signals when the vehicle is overloaded," he said.
Other measures that the government has taken in order to have a more conducive investment climate includes online registration of companies at very low prices of just Sh6,000 and which will have the advantage of minimising contact between government officials and service providers.
The Head of State, however, congratulated the organisers of DITF, the Tanzania Trade Development Authority (TANTRADE), saying that the trade fair has become better and more known over the years, adding that all these were testimony to increased economic growth.
He said that in his ten years in office, the number of local participants has increased from 1,400 in 2006 to 1,750 in 2014 and foreign participants have also increased five times from 108 to 500 during the same period.
Sales originating from the fair also increased from Sh394million to Sh1.09billion in that period and revenue collected rose from Sh1.32billion in 2006 to Sh3.2billion in 2014, adding that DITF continues to get good reviews from the World Trade Fair Organisation.
He said: “The threshold for an economy to be middle economy is $1,099 million revenue collection, Tanzania is collecting $1,066 million and if the business community increase their efforts, we will soon be in a different league, away from the least developed countries (LDCs),"
At a short ceremony President Kikwete handed over certificates and plaques to top three best performers in different categories as well as the top three overall participants that included the University of Dar es Salaam in third place, Property International in second place and the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) that came first.
He told the gathering, however, that as a good reader of Doing Business reports, he is always irked by why Tanzania continuously does not improve in business, adding that more efforts are needed to alter these trends.
As part of change to broaden business, more so with the neighbouring countries, the president directed all regional and district commissioners to stop banning the transportation and exportation of produce, citing that the action does not augur well with business.
According to Kikwete, evidence has shown that such orders only end up benefiting a few corrupt people and are no longer welcome. "These orders only hurt businesses and benefit few individuals.
Where there are food shortages, there should be more efforts to increase production that challenges are turned into opportunities," he argued.
Meanwhile Minister for Industry and Trade, Abdallah Kigoda, stated that in the ten years of President Kikwete's tenure, the fair had proved to be a catalyst in boosting the economy and broadening the scope of doing business.
Kigoda said that the fair had helped increase the quality of products being exhibited and international networks had been created.
In ten years, local orders had risen from $24.4 million worth of goods in 2003 to $102.5 million in 2014 and international orders from $ 9 million to $122 million in the same period.
With regard to the ongoing fair, he said that this year owing to increased demand, 3,000 square metre halls had been erected.
Foreign countries that are participating at the 39 trade fair include, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Malawi, Nigeria, Ghana, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Indonesia, Iran, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Finland, Syria and Turkey.
SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY
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