Dar es Salaam. President of Poland Andrzej Duda is expected to visit Tanzania between February 8 and 9, 2024, as part of his tour to the East African region to boost bilateral cooperation in political, economic, and military areas with East African nations.
Apart from Tanzania, Mr Duda will also visit Kenya and Rwanda, where Poland is expected to open its embassy. The Polish leader is expected to arrive in Tanzania on February 8 at the Julius Nyerere International Airport, where he’ll be received by Minister of Foreign Affairs January Makamba.
On February 9, President Samia Suluhu Hassan will host Mr Duda at the Dar es Salaam state house, where the two leaders, accompanied by their respective delegations, will talk about bilateral cooperation between Tanzania and Poland and how to improve them.
“For 62 years, Tanzania and Poland have been working closely together in several development projects, ranging from agriculture and finance to education, tourism, health and water,” a statement released Tuesday by Tanzania’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
This will be Mr Duda’s second visit to Africa after the one he made in 2022, where he visited Senegal, Ivory Coast and Nigeria.
According to information from Polish media, besides improving bilateral cooperation, Mr Duda’s visit also intends to “combat Russian disinformation in Africa and assess the potential for independent policy-making on the continent.”
Tanzania and Poland established diplomatic relations in 1961, and by 1962, a Polish embassy was functioning in Dar es Salaam. The embassy was temporarily closed in 2008 but resumed operations in 2017.
Tanzania doesn’t have an embassy in Poland, and it engages with the East European nation from its embassy in Berlin, Germany.
Polish companies’ growing interest in investing in Tanzania in sectors such as water economy, lighting, cybersecurity, and tourism, plus President Samia’s willingness to embrace democratic values, have been reported to interest Mr Duda to visit the country, Polish media reported.
Poland exports goods to Tanzania, such as machines and equipment, food, copper products, paper, clothes, tyres, and household appliances. It imports coffee, tea, cocoa, tobacco, cotton products and oilseeds from Tanzania.
During his conversation with his Tanzanian counterpart, Mr Duda is expected to raise several topics of discussion, which include climate policy.
The Polish leader’s visit to Tanzania comes almost two years since the then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Stergomena Tax, visited Poland in 2022.
