On August 5th, CTI's Executive Director, Eng. Leodegar Tenga, joined the East African Business Council's CEOs' Trade & Investment Roundtable Tanzania Edition, held at Johari Rotana Hotel, Dar es Salaam.
The Chief Guest, H.E. Amb. Stephen P. Mbundi, Secretary General of the East African Community, urged the private sector to expand trade and investment across the region, commending the EAC Heads of State's commitment to raising intra-EAC trade to 50% by 2030. "This must become the benchmark against which every policy, partnership and reform is measured," he said. "Achieving this target will require genuine collaboration between governments and the private sector."
EABC Executive Director, Mr. Ahmed Farah, echoed this sentiment, noting that a stronger regional market gives companies the space to compete globally.
The roundtable also featured presentations from PwC and the Tanzania Investment and Special Economic Zones Authority (TISEZA), with PwC Tanzania bringing real-time data to walk participants through Tanzania's road to a USD 1 trillion economy, covering economic, trade, and revenue trajectories.
In his remarks, Eng. Tenga emphasized that the EAC must prioritize dismantling trade barriers and fully implementing existing policies, rather than continuing to design new ones without addressing the ones already in place.
For Tanzania, regional integration presents a significant opportunity for expanded markets, greater investment, and stronger value addition for locally manufactured products. Yet Non-Tariff Barriers, regulatory inconsistencies, high logistics costs, and infrastructure gaps continue to hold back the sector's full potential, which is why forums like this remain essential to turning regional commitments into practical outcomes for industry.
CTI at the EABC CEOs' Trade & Investment Roundtable