Learn from Angola Minister Chikawe advises oil sector

BY BEATRICE PHILEMON

29th December 2013

Mathias Chikawe

Minister for Constitutional and Legal Affairs mid this week advised oil sector stakeholders and policy makers to learn from Angola on how best to utilize oil resources to benefit all Tanzanians.

Speaking in Dar es Salaam, Mathias Chikawe said: “Angola is the only African country that has attained the best standards of utilisation of oil products and gas that are benefiting its citizens evenly.

The best way of managing the oil resource is to formulate policies that focus on the improvement of the citizen’s welfare.
‘’Polices should clearly give room for the involvement of the local communities in the management and utilisation of oil and gas products for country’s economy to have chance in the competitive global liberal market. 

“We need to learn from them in terms of oil policy they have, what their oil policy says, how it works towards the development and welfare of the country.

“…Because Angola has been developed through oil sector and has been receiving huge sums of money in oil revenues which is also expected to increase in the coming years,” he said.

According to Chikawe, Angola is one of the richest countries in hydrocarbons. 

“Tanzania should embark on this strategy because right now Angola has become one of the countries with the fastest growing economies and has improved the wellbeing of its people through oil resources.

Tanzania could learn from there and bring sustainable development of the nation and better welfare for the people.

“To meet this initiative let us go to Angola, meet with experts engaged in this sector, talk to them, then come to Tanzania and put into practice what we learn from there,” he noted.

He suggested leaders in the sector to make trade visits to Angola to learn, share experience in terms of skills and technology so that Tanzania could make progress.

He said in Angola a high percentage of the oil exploration and production is supervised by foreign companies but the economic situation for its people is good.

Tanzania and Angola enjoy cordial relations. “We can request them to teach us and even bring their experts to Tanzania and show us how they have managed to reach where they are.”

SOURCE: GUARDIAN ON SUNDAY