Summary of remarks made by Commissioner Neven Mimica on 3 November

The European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, Mr Neven Mimica
reaffirmed the European Union's strong and well established partnership with the United Republic of
Tanzania during his official visit on 2 and 3 November. On 5 November, the Commissioner will meet
with Minister Mahiga of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation.
On 2 November, Commissioner Mimica and the Government of Tanzania signed a 50 million Euro
project on rural electrification to connect 3600 villages to the main energy grid. The Permanent
Secretary of the Ministry of Finance and Planning Mr Doto James, who signed on behalf of
Government, explained that the support by the EU would play a significant role in implementing the
ambitious National Energy Plan to see all 12,000 villages powered by 2020.
On 3 November, the Commissioner met partners implementing EU supported youth programmes,
including Plan International, Restless Development, Baba Watoto, Save the Children at the Nafasi Art
Space, together with beneficiaries of the programmes. Commissioner Mimica presented the EU
Spotlight Initiative – a 500 million Euro programme – to fight all forms of gender-based violence,
including early pregnancy, female genital mutilation, child marriage and forced labour. During his
visit to Nafasi Art Space the Commissioner also met with young Tanzanian artists portraying gender
based challenges while the Muda Dance Group depicted 'young people migrating across oceans to
Europe'.
The visit of the Commissioner comes ahead of the upcoming African Union – European Union
Summit on 28 and 29 November, 2017 which will be held under the overarching theme of
"Investment in youth for accelerated inclusive growth and sustainable development".
The Commissioner subsequently visited the Tanzania Port where Mr. Lazaro Twange, Ag. Deputy
Director General (Operations) of the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) and his team gave a
presentation on the Dar es Salaam Maritime Gateway Project (DMGP). The DMGP aims at improving
the effectiveness and efficiency of the Port of Dar es Salaam. As Tanzania is well placed to become a
regional multi-modal transportation and logistics hub, the Commissioner stressed the importance of
keeping the Port of Dar es Salaam competitive both in terms of infrastructure and efficiency. An
enabling business environment that allows private sectors investments is an important factor to
strengthen the port’s competitiveness.
Also on 3 November, the Commissioner met with civil society to affirm the EU's commitment to civil
society and to discuss current social and political developments in Tanzania.