Dar es Salaam-Tanzania is seeking stronger safeguards for its citizens working abroad as it prepares to host the second Doha Dialogue on labour mobility, with the government pushing for agreements that protect migrant workers from exploitation while expanding access to decent jobs.
The two-day meeting, scheduled for October 5–6, 2026, in Dar es Salaam, will bring together African countries, Gulf Cooperation Council member states and other participating countries to discuss how labour migration can be made safer, fairer and more responsive to changing labour-market needs.
Speaking to journalists ahead of the meeting, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office responsible for Labour, Employment and Relations, Deus Sangu, said Tanzania wants labour agreements to provide concrete protection for workers before they leave the country.
The minister said the government was placing particular emphasis on ensuring that Tanzanians recruited to work abroad receive formal employment contracts, with the relevant agreements subject to government oversight.
“What we are ensuring in these agreements is, first, the rights of workers. Second, we want to ensure that the wages and payment they receive there are fair and correspond to the work they are going to perform,” Sangu said.
The issue of bilateral labour agreements is expected to be one of the key areas of discussion at the Doha Dialogue. Such agreements are intended to provide a framework for cooperation between countries of origin and destination countries on recruitment, employment conditions and the protection of migrant workers.
For Tanzania, the discussions come as the government seeks to expand overseas employment opportunities while addressing concerns over the treatment of workers who leave the country in search of jobs.
Sangu said Tanzania had already entered into agreements with some countries aimed at reducing challenges faced by Tanzanians working abroad.
The government, he said, was also seeking to ensure that overseas employment opportunities are accompanied by decent working conditions and mechanisms for protecting workers’ rights.
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“The meeting will focus on strengthening bilateral labour migration agreements, improving workers’ skills in line with labour-market demands, and developing labour-mobility systems that can respond to technological changes, emerging labour-market needs and decent work,” Sangu said.
The Doha Dialogue brings together countries of origin and destination to address issues arising from the movement of workers across borders. Its agenda includes fair recruitment, recognition of skills, social protection and access to justice, particularly for workers in vulnerable situations.
For Tanzania, hosting the dialogue provides an opportunity to put the concerns of its migrant workers at the centre of discussions with countries that receive African workers.
It also creates a platform to explore ways of expanding employment opportunities for Tanzanians, particularly young people with professional and technical skills, while strengthening systems intended to protect them once they take up jobs abroad.
The government’s position is that labour mobility should not be measured only by the number of Tanzanians who secure jobs overseas. The quality of those jobs, the terms under which workers are recruited and the protection available to them are equally important.
The emphasis on bilateral agreements therefore places the Doha Dialogue at the intersection of two priorities: opening international labour markets to Tanzanians and ensuring that the movement of workers does not expose them to exploitation or violations of their basic rights.
As Tanzania prepares to host the meeting, the government is expected to use the dialogue to push for stronger cooperation between labour-sending and labour-receiving countries, with employment contracts, fair wages, skills recognition and workers’ rights forming part of the broader framework for safer and more orderly labour migration.
