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| Tanzania’s Finance Minister, Hon. Ambassador Khamis Mussa Omar (MP) (left), bids farewell to the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and former Prime Minister of Belgium, Mr. Alexander De Croo, shortly after their meeting and discussions on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank in Bangkok, Thailand, where they discussed various issues, including youth employment, advancing education, attracting investment and growing the private sector to accelerate the country’s economic development. |
Tanzania’s Finance Minister, Hon. Ambassador Khamis Mussa Omar (MP), used a meeting with the head of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on the sidelines of the IMF and World Bank annual meetings in Bangkok, Thailand, to pitch closer cooperation on youth employment, education, investment promotion and private-sector growth.
According to the statement, Ambassador Omar told De Croo that youth employment is one of Tanzania’s most urgent development priorities because of the country’s demographic structure, in which young people form a large share of the population. He argued that young people need skills, capital, technology and market access to become employable and to create jobs themselves.
“Youth employment is one of Tanzania’s key development priorities given the country’s demographic structure, which shows that a large share of citizens are young. There is therefore a need for robust strategies to enable them to access skills, capital, technology and markets so they can become self-employed and employable,” the minister said, according to the statement.
He added that a large youth population could be an economic asset if properly empowered, but that a lack of economic opportunity could fuel social and economic problems, especially when young people lose hope of a better life.
“Employment and youth issues are very broad. We need to ensure young people get the right skills, affordable start-up capital, technology, knowledge and market access so they can participate fully in production and national development,” Ambassador Omar said.
The statement also said the government would continue investing in education and education infrastructure to meet rising demand from population growth. It noted that Tanzania has made progress in expanding equal access to education for boys and girls at different levels, but that population growth continues to increase demand for schools, teachers, books and other infrastructure—requiring sustained investment to improve both access and quality.
On investment, the minister said Tanzania is working with development partners to identify investment opportunities and prepare projects capable of attracting domestic and foreign investors. He said the government, with the World Bank, is assessing business and investment opportunities in the Central Corridor, which links the Port of Dar es Salaam to the interior through transport infrastructure including the standard-gauge railway (SGR), with possible extension of those opportunities to Rwanda.
“This corridor has major opportunities in agriculture, mining, tourism, transport and the development of logistics centres, which can attract investment and stimulate production and employment,” Ambassador Omar said.
The statement further said the government is taking steps to improve the business and investment climate, including through recommendations from committees formed to examine challenges in the tax system and the business environment.
For his part, De Croo reportedly expressed UNDP’s readiness to continue working with Tanzania on its development agenda, including empowering young people, strengthening skills and expanding economic opportunities through cooperation with government, the private sector and other development institutions. He said investment should be viewed as a long-term development strategy, particularly through better use of natural resources, including critical minerals needed for the global energy transition.
De Croo praised Tanzania for preparing Integrated National Financing Frameworks (INFFs), which are intended to improve access to and coordination of resources for financing development priorities. He said UNDP, in cooperation with the Tanzania Investment and Growth Centre, aims to turn opportunities into projects with documented financial and commercial plans capable of attracting investors before an investment conference expected in Tanzania in June 2027.
“We are ready to cooperate with Tanzania in preparing for that conference and in seeking financing for sustainable infrastructure and blue economy projects through cooperation with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), with the aim of accelerating project implementation and increasing investment’s contribution to economic growth and public welfare,” De Croo said, according to the statement.
The meeting was also attended by Zanzibar’s Finance Minister, Hon. Juma Malik Akil; the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Natu El-Maamry Mwamba; the Permanent Secretary of Zanzibar’s Ministry of Finance, Mr. Aboud Hassan Mwinyi; and a member of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Budget, Hon. Enock Koola, along with other government and UNDP officials.The meeting signal renewed diplomatic momentum between Tanzania and UNDP.