On February 12, 2024, the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry hosted a conference “Russia – Tanzania: opportunities for mutually beneficial cooperation” with the participation of the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Republic of Tanzania to the Russian Federation, Fredrick Ibrahim Kibuta. 

Opening the conference, President of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry Vladimir Katenev drew attention to the fact that Africa has recently become one of the promising areas for the development of international trade and economic relations for Russia.
“The interest in joint projects is mutual, this is confirmed by the Russia-Africa Forum that took place last year for the second time.

St. Petersburg is one of the leading cities in rapprochement with African countries: educational institutions allocate quotas for students from the African continent, systematic work is being carried out to promote the Russian language, new honorary consulates and cooperation associations are opening in our city. The St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry also strives to develop trade and economic relations with African countries in general and with the United Republic of Tanzania in particular, and is ready to actively assist in building business communications between entrepreneurs of the two regions in the future,” he added.

During the conference, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the United Republic of Tanzania to the Russian Federation Fredrick Ibrahim Kibuta introduced participants to the peculiarities of doing business in Tanzania and spoke about investment opportunities in such industries as agriculture, mining and manufacturing, real estate, oil and gas, tourism, pharmaceuticals, mechanical engineering.

“Tanzania is one of the TOP 10 fastest growing economies in Africa. Over the past 10 years, the country's economy has grown by an average of 7% per year. Tanzania has already implemented many strategic projects that contribute to the development of both local and foreign companies,” he emphasized in his speech.

Chairman of the Committee on Industrial Policy, Innovation and Trade of St. Petersburg Kirill Soloveichik, Deputy Chairman of the Committee on External Relations of St. Petersburg Arbi Abubakarov, and Honorary Consul of Tanzania in St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region Valery Gavrilyuk also addressed the participants with welcoming remarks. The meeting was chaired by Vice President of the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry Ekaterina Lebedeva.

More than 100 entrepreneurs from St. Petersburg who were interested in cooperation with Tanzanian partners took part in the conference. Among them are representatives of medium and small businesses interested in exporting their products to Tanzania, and larger enterprises interested in the opportunity to take part in joint projects, representatives of the banking and logistics industries.

The meeting ended with a presentation by the director of the Center for Language Testing of St. Petersburg State University, Dmitry Ptyushkin, on the development of educational activities of St. Petersburg State University in the United Republic of Tanzania, as well as a demonstration of photographs of wildlife, culture and life of the peoples of Africa by traveler Artem Shakhnazarov.

St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce and Industry