President Tharman on Tanzania and East Africa | Full interview

[00:00:00]Well, first this has been a very productive visit. I had very good candid discussions with President Samia Suluhu Hassan as well as with Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi.

[00:00:14]We had discussions that were focused not just on immediate opportunities but on what the promise of Tanzania and Zanzibar are for the future.

[00:00:27]And how we could complement their strengths with our strengths coming from Singapore. It was a a very good visit because we found that there was a very natural complementarity um between our experience and their ambition.

[00:00:47]Um there was respect for both sides and meeting their ministers, sensing the energy and enthusiasm of their people including their young.

[00:00:59]Um my sense is that Tanzania and East Africa um will be a very exciting new frontier in Singapore's external partnerships.

[00:01:10]Um Singaporeans do not understand Africa well enough. Understandably, it's not very it's far away geographically and we haven't had deep historical connections the way we've had in Asia.

[00:01:24]But it pays to understand Africa and to understand that it is a continent with very diverse regions very different countries.

[00:01:33]Um we are small countries so we can't be inserted everywhere in Africa but in some regions and with some countries we can develop close partnerships. And Tanzania and East Africa is one of those areas.

[00:01:47]They're one of the fastest growing regions in the world growing at 5 to 6% per year.

[00:01:52]Um much better governed than was the case sometime in the past. To give you an example. I was talking to one of our companies about 20 years ago the company required about 14 months to get a license to operate.

[00:02:07]Now it's as fast as any other investment friendly destination.

[00:02:12]And that's true for several other African countries. Governance has vastly improved. They're hungry for investments and they're diversifying.

[00:02:20]Because Africa inherited very often monoculture agriculture with just one crop, one type of product which wasn't processed but shipped raw and ready to other markets to process. They didn't have much manufacturing.

[00:02:37]They had undiversified economies. Now all of them are diversifying.

[00:02:42]If you look at Tanzania, you look at Zanzibar, they're all diversifying.

[00:02:46]They're developing manufacturing.

[00:02:47]They're expanding their ports. They're expanding their tourism not just from beach, you know, not just beach tourism but eco-tourism.

[00:02:56]And they're transforming their economies going for sustainability and really moving up the ladder of value.

[00:03:05]So there's a very good meeting of strengths.

[00:03:08]The SBF had a good delegation all very keen to find out more about Tanzania.

[00:03:16]Five years ago they told me it would have been very difficult to pick up interest amongst their members to come to Tanzania. Now it was easy.

[00:03:26]And some of the largest players like PSA International although they're not in this delegation will be making their own visits.

[00:03:35]The opportunities are significant. If you look at Zanzibar, they're developing um major new deep water port Mwangapwani which will be in fact it's got the natural advantage of being even deeper than Dar es Salaam. It's about 18 to 20 m.

[00:03:57]And they're intending that it be a transshipment port uh for very large um uh container vessels.

[00:04:06]Plus an industrial park to go with it.

[00:04:09]Uh that's a model we're very familiar with.

[00:04:12]And Singaporeans Singapore companies, not just PSA International, but Singapore companies are very familiar with the industrial park uh endeavor.

[00:04:21]Design, uh developing, uh manufacturing plants. In fact, one of the uh companies of this delegation has been very active in Africa developing manufacturing plants for both small and large firms.

[00:04:34]So, everything from agribusiness, which is now being uh transformed to add more value through downstream processing, will have opportunities. Companies that are developing organic fertilizers in Singapore, for instance, they are in the delegation.

[00:04:50]Tourism, where we have a lot of expertise. Fintech and finance.

[00:04:54]Manufacturing.

[00:04:55]And of course logistics, which is a core strength for Singapore.

[00:04:59]Um uh not just the ports, but the whole supply chain management system.

[00:05:04]So, that's on the economic side, but I think Tanzania and East Africa um also valuable partners for us in a very uncertain world.

[00:05:12]And it'll pay for us to spend more time getting to know this region of Africa, recognizing its growth potential, and just reminding ourselves, well, this was like what ASEAN was 25 years ago.

[00:05:27]It's another new It's a new frontier for us, a rapidly growing and very promising frontier. It will never be perfect.

[00:05:34]It will never be perfect. But there are very few regions of the world that are perfect.

[00:05:39]The main thing is to keep improving and to sort out problems when they arise, and having the trust and friendship between businesses as well as between government leaders is extremely helpful.

[00:05:51]The businesses too sense that they need to diversify. Um Asia is still a hinterland for Singapore, but we all need to diversify.

[00:06:01]Uh it's a strategic necessary necessity in today's world.

[00:06:05]Um and I think it has to start young because young people should also get to know uh Africa and realize how exciting it is. I really enjoyed my time with the students at Dar es Salaam University yesterday.

[00:06:18]I can tell you they were extremely sharp in their questions, enthusiastic, and you sense their aspiration, not just for themselves, but their country. You can sense their aspiration. I was really impressed by the students, including first-year students, asking excellent questions. And by the way, without referring to notes or handphone in front of them.