Tanzania signs aviation agreement with Germany

(eTN) – In an attempt to revamp its transport sector, Tanzania is looking for financial and logistical support from Germany to speed up development of transportation industry.

Tanzanian minister for Transport Harrison Mwakyembe visited Germany this week and met with several top officials in German’s Federal ministry of transport to chart out areas of bilateral cooperation between Tanzania and Germany on air transport.

While in Berlin, the Tanzanian transport minister signed aviation agreement with Germany, hoping to persuade German’s national airline, Lufthansa to re-introduce its flights to Tanzania.

Reports from Berlin said Tanzania is trying to attract Lufthansa to go into joint venture with the ailing Air Tanzania Company Limited (ATCL), Tanzania’s troubled and financially crippled airline.

Lufthansa had cancelled its scheduled flights between Frankfurt am Main and Dar es Salaam way back in 1994 due to poor air business between Tanzania and Germany.

Germany ambassador to Tanzania Klaus Peter Brandes said Berlin is ready to support Tanzania in revamping transport sector, looking at the ailing central railway line, built by Germany almost 100 years ago.

Best known by its history, the Tanzania Central Railway line runs from the capital city of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean coast to Kigoma on the beaches of Lake Tanganyika, second deepest freshwater lake in the world.

The Central Line was the biggest railway project launched in early 1880s in Tanzania, the former German colony.

German embassy in Dar es Salaam, jointly with Swiss based Kuehne Stiftung, has organized a two-day meeting on Transport in Africa, to be held in Dar es Salaam next week.

The Second African Logistics Conference will attract 150 participants, mostly transport professionals from Europe and Africa to chart out plans and strategies that would help raising the profile of transport sector in Africa.