South Africa and Tanzania on Thursday 15th August, further strengthened their historic relations with a pledge to increase trade and investment between the two countries.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa paid a state visit to Tanzania and was welcomed by Tanzanian President, John Magufuli. At the meeting, the two presidents concluded bilateral discussions and various sectoral agreements were signed between the two governments to advance people-to-people relations, trade, investment, infrastructure development and energy co-operation between the two countries

Ramaphosa in the meeting , said the two governments would encourage their respective business communities to take complete advantage of existing opportunities to increase trade and investment initiatives.

“South Africa and Tanzania offer excellent business opportunities to investors and we will continue to explore possible areas for cooperation. The opportunities are plentiful here in Tanzania and President Magufuli is inviting South African business with open arms and to come and invest here in Tanzania,” Ramaphosa said.

There are a total number of 208 South African businesses operating in Tanzania and they employ approximately 21,000 people; something that Magufuli appreciated and called for more South African business to invest in the country.

In turn, Ramaphosa said he will be glad to see Tanzanian businesses investing in South Africa. “We also wanted to extend a number of products that we can buy from Tanzania,” he said.

The two presidents also agreed to continue sharing insights on multilateral matters, such as global peace and stability.