Nigeria is ready to boost economic ties with Tanzania for the benefit of citizens of both countries, President Muhammadu Buhari has said.
The President made the pledge on Thursday when a received the Letter of Credence from the High Commissioner of Tanzania to Nigeria, Muhidin Moweto, at the Presidential Villa in Abuja.
He said both countries had a lot of potentials that can make them key economic actors in the region.
President Buhari congratulated the government of Tanzania for the recent discovery of gas reserves in the coastal region, noting that it offers a lot of opportunities for the country.
“Nigeria and Tanzania have a lot of potentials. We will do our best to improve relations, which dates back to the pre-colonial era,” he said in a statement by his Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mr Garba Shehu.
Earlier the Tanzanian High Commissioner underscored the presence and positive roles of Nigerian firms in his country, particularly in the manufacturing and banking sectors.
“My primary objective is to strengthen and enhance existing relations of both nations and to take our economic ties to a new height.
“We need more Dangote’s (companies) in Tanzania to help in developing the country,” Mr Moweto told the President.
The Tanzania envoy further conveyed the appreciation of the President of Zanzibar, which is a semi-autonomous region within Tanzania, to President Buhari for the deployment of 41 Nigerians teachers in the region under the Technical Aid Corps (TAC) programme of Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
He said the teachers are doing very well and appealed for the deployment of more Nigerian teachers to Tanzania.
In another meeting, President Buhari received the Letter of Credence from the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Nigeria, Mr Lee In-Tae.
He commended the Korean Government for its education development programmes in the country through the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).
In his part, the Korean Ambassador praised Nigeria’s new economic plans encapsulated under the Economic Growth and Recovery Plan (EGRP), which among others, targets seven per cent GDP growth rate in Nigeria by 2020.
