JK: All are welcome to invest

Saturday, 06 October 2012

Ottawa. President Jakaya Kikwete said yesterday Tanzania will continue inviting investors from China as it does to Western countries despite some criticism and ridicule from certain quarters.   The President gave the position at a press conference he jointly addressed with the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr Stephen Harper, at the Rideau Hall shortly after the two leaders had held talks. President Kikwete said Tanzania will not close its doors to Chinese companies interested to invest in the country because investment in Tanzania was not based on commonality of ideologies, fulfilment  but rather the capability of the investor and his meeting investment conditions. The President was responding to a question from a journalist who wanted to know why Tanzania was open to investments and aid from China, a country, which according to the journalist, did not have a good record on respecting human rights, democracy and the principles of rule of law as Tanzania does.  “First, we in Tanzania have set conditions for investment. The conditions are not tied to investors being democratic or coming from a country considered to be democratic,” he said.   “After all, this question has no basis. When I visited China the last time at Tianjin investment area, I toured a Toyota car plant which manufactures 600,000 vehicles annually. I was told there was a total of three industries there from China. This is a Japanese company,” he said.  “Toyota is just an example, but the truth is that large-scale investment in China is from the West .” President Kikwete used the opportunity to thank Canada and its people for their distinguished support to Tanzania’s development programmes from the time the country attained independence in 1961.