Cuba and Tanzania heighten collaboration
Cuba and Tanzania heighten collaboration
Valdés Mesa in the land of Mwalimu Nyerere
After completing an intense work agenda in Uganda, Cuban Vice President Salvador Valdés Mesa and the Cuban delegation traveled to Dar es Salaam, for an official three-day visit in Tanzania from January 23 to January 25, 2024.
Cuba and Tanzania have agreed to heighten collaboration in high priority areas including agriculture, tourism, education, and health. The two nations signed two Memorandum of Understanding involving the Sokoine University of Agriculture and Cuba’s University of Artemisa Diaz Gonzalez, as well as the Tanzania Medical Department Authority and the Center for State Control of Medicines and Medical Devices in Cuba. The two nations are also interested in developing collaboration in sport, culture, tourism, technology transfer, and renewable energy. Announcement of the agreements were made during a joint press conference at the State House in Dar es Salaam, following a meeting between Tanzanian Vice-President Dr. Philip Mpango and Cuban Vice-President Salvador Valdés Mesa.
In addition, Cuba agreed to increase the number of medical personnel serving in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. Cuba currently has twenty-six collaborators in the East African nation, the great majority in the area of health. To date, 296 Tanzanian professionals have graduated from Cuban universities, and ten Tanzanian youth are currently enrolled. In addition, Cuba will organize a cultural conference for promoting Kiswahili and its corresponding culture beyond its territory.
Valdés Mesa also met with Dr. Tulia Ackson, Speaker of the National Assembly of Tanzania. They discussed ways to collaborate with respect to communication technology and the emerging field of artificial intelligence.
It also was agreed to diversify the operation of Tanzania Biotech Products Limited (TBPL), which is operated by Tanzania with the technical assistance of Cuban specialists. The factory will begin to produce ten new types of biotechnologies and agricultural products, supplying East and Southern African countries, including Kenya and Angola. TBPL is the only factory in Africa producing biolarvicide, a microbial insecticide that is highly effective against mosquito larvae in very low doses and safe to other non-target organisms. Valdés Mesa and the Cuban delegation visited the factory, which began to produce TBPL in 2017, as a consequence of the interest of the Tanzanian government in combating malaria.
Diplomatic relations between Cuba and Tanzania were established in April 1962. Dr. Mpango declared that the strong diplomatic relation between the two countries was established by the founding fathers of the two nations, Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and Fidel Castro, in the 1960s, who stressed the principles of respect, solidarity, and cooperation. The two nations have been, bit by bit, constructing a road of cooperation for more than sixty years. Tanzania, he declared, has always been on the side of Cuba through changing international scenarios. For his part, the Cuban Vice-President thanked his host for the warm welcome that the Cuban delegation has received. He reaffirmed Cuba’s commitment to continue deepening political ties and to bring cooperation of mutual benefit to the maximum level.
During his three-day visit, the Cuban Vice-President visited the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, where he called for the utilization of the socialism built by the founding fathers of the two nations as the foundation for the development of the economy with an inclusive social transformation. The Managing Director of the Mwalimu Nyerere Foundation, Joseph Butiku, noted that Mwalimu Nyerere persistently advocated for people-centered and sustainable development.
At the Foundation, the Cuban Vice-President and the Cuban delegation met with friends of solidarity with Cuba as well as with graduates of Cuban universities and with Cubans resident in Tanzania. They spoke of the common history of the two countries as well as of the invaluable support of Cuban doctors in African lands. For his part, Valdés Mesa expressed his great satisfaction in arriving once again to the beautiful country of the mother continent of humanity, which constitutes an essential part of Cuban nationality.
The Cuban Vice-President also met with the ex-President of Tanzania, Jakarta Mrisho Kikwete, to whom Valdés Mesa conveyed the warm greetings of the leader of the Cuban Revolution, Raúl Castro Ruz. The former president recalled the visit he made to Cuba in 2009. He also thanked Cuba for its support in the confrontation with malaria, and he shared details concerning the program for the reduction of the incidence of the infirmity among the Tanzanian population.
Of special meaning was the visit of Valdés Mesa to Mrs. Mama María Nyerere, widow of Julius Nyerere, who was accompanied by her children and grandchildren. She declared that this is the time for Africa. She stressed the importance for the youth to continue the historic legacy of struggle, and to attain for the continent the place that belongs to it in the concert of nations.
The Cuban Vice-President also visited the top floor of the building where Che Guevara lived from November 1965 to February 1966, writing his memoirs on the guerrilla struggle in the Congo, where the history of his stay is preserved for the youth and for the future.
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