INDUSTRIAL owners have welcomed the country’s decision to join regional markets while asking the government to continue putting enabling business environment for domestic goods to sustain stiff market competition.

This was said in Dar es Salaam over the weekend during the annual symposium organised by the Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) which aimed at analysing opportunities and challenges of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) on development on Tanzania.

“CTI positively welcomes the AfCFTA, but all we need to do as a country and private sector is to put our house clear to welcome competition.

Tanzanians need to change their mindset to buy locally produced goods instead of imported one as are almost of the same quality and international standards,” said Subhash Patel, the Chairman of CTI.

He added that Tanzanians must be patriotic to buying locally produced products as they were promoting a big chain of supply and therefore adding circulation of cash in the nation’s economy.

Mr Subhash said that AfCFTA and other market were of more economic value for they were boosting economy ensuring foreign exchange earnings and therefore the government must be ready to put support of the industrial policy and minimize costs of doing business.

For her part, MS Farhiya Warsame from the Lasav industries limited advised that if the country’s industries were to compete in the AfCFTA markets, there is a need for simplifying production environment locally. She said that there were need of reducing costs of production and doing business and the costs of financing which was very high and therefore: “We must clean our house first” she insisted.

The Retired Chairman of the CTI Mr Arnold Kilewo said that the government’s efforts of investing in key infrastructure as of immense importance will smoothen business and that the government should not leave everything to the private sector.

“Yes we need to support private sector but there are some complex sectors like processing iron ore pervasive in southern Tanzania and similar projects which the government must put in its hand if it were to be productive.”

The director for Industry integration for the Ministry of Trader and industries Mr Ally Gugu said that the government will take all advices voiced by the CTI members to formulating policies which will see best ways of trading and benefiting from the regional markets.

“The business facilitation act is in the pipeline, the agricultural sector is being modernized and we are now striving to embark on exporting value added agricultural products.

All this is to have strategic cross border business,” said Gugu.

Source: Dailynews

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of TradeMark Africa.