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NAM CSSTC-Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Dar es Salaam Joint Press Release
The Non-Aligned Movement Centre for South-South Technical Cooperation (NAM CSSTC) in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia in Dar es Salaam has committed to enhance economic cooperation between Indonesia and Tanzania, and promote Indonesia’s capacity to develop appropriate postharvest technology. For this purpose, Business to Business (B2B) Meetings between Indonesian and Tanzanian entrepreneurs were arranged in Dar es Salaam and Mbeya from 8th to 10th October, 2019.
B2B Meeting in Dar es Salaam on 8th
October, 2019, in cooperation with Tanzania Private Sector Foundation (TPSF), bringing together entrepreneurs from the Tanzania Food Processing Association (TAFOPA) and the Centre for Integrated Agribusiness Development (CIAD). Subsequently, the Mbeya region, one of the food storage provinces of Tanzania, hosted a B2B Meeting on 10th October, 2019.
All meetings were attended by more than 50 TPSF-members in food processing, while CIAD entrepreneurs mastered in the upstream (cultivation) and downstream (processing and marketing) also attended the dynamic B2B fora.
Those events were parts of cooperation programme for the implementation of Training on Processing Technology of Agricultural Products being developed with Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Republic of Indonesia.
During the B2B meetings, Tanzanian companies were very interested in working with Indonesians in the processing of various products, such as sweet potatoes, cassava and fruits, especially in machinery and the appropriate technology. Some of the principal collaborations offered included machinery procurement and training to build the industrial food processing park and rice processing, including rice husks that were not optimally empowered in Mbeya. This is in line with the Tanzanian government’s vision of industrialised agriculture.
Ambassador Ronny Prasetyo Yuliantoro, Director for NAM CSSTC, said at the B2B meeting, “Postharvest processing could raise farm product quality by 200 percent.”
In the upcoming Trade Expo Indonesia (TEI) 2019, entrepreneurs in Tanzania were also invited to join. “Indonesia will be hosting a trade expo from 16th to 20th October, 2019 and will be glad to welcome entrepreneurs from Tanzania to participate,” said Ambassador Diar Nurbintoro, a Senior Diplomat from the Directorate-General of Information and Public Diplomacy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-Republic of Indonesia.
Desidery Rutta, a Tanzanian entrepreneur, who had experience conducting trade collaboration with Indonesian private sector in manufacturing machinery, testified to Tanzanian companies that Indonesian manufactured machinery is of quality in terms of performance and sales prices.
The Director for NAM CSSTC hoped to be able to link Indonesian sellers with Tanzanian purchasers at the B2B meetings.
Based on observations from organisation of training in 2018 in Malang and Batu, the B2B meetings had had a significant positive impact, directly or indirectly on agro-business in the country.
According to data from Tanzanian government, agriculture contributes approximately 30 percent to the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
Mbeya, 10th October, 2019
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