By Salah Al-Monufi Mohamed Eysa, minister of trade and industry, is considering a memorandum submitted by the Egyptian embassy in Tanzania that recommends opening a commercial office, to benefit from economic co-operation between the two countries. The memorandum sees that there is a greater opportunity for trade ties with Tanzania after the country withdrew from the COMESA treaty. The Egyptian ambassador to Tanzania, Hossam Al-Din Moharram, said that the volume of trade between Egypt and Tanzania is small and out of proportion with the good relations between the two countries. Trade between Egypt and Tanzania equalled $50million in 2011. Egyptian exports to Tanzania accounted for $48million of the trade in the same year. Eysa said that power generation equipment accounted for 18.8% of Egyptian exports to Tanzania, followed by asphalt and other petroleum derivatives at 17.7%. Paper towel and tissue products account for 15% and construction materials make up 7%. Fish products and other seafoods account for 88% of imports from Tanzania followed by dairy products. Egyptian petroleum company Sakson Egypt, has recently begun hydrocarbon exploration off the southern coast of Tanzania. Moharram explained that oil exploration had made promising discoveries that have the potential to transform life in Tanzania within the next decade. He noted that the Egyptian company is currently making progress and will soon make an announcement about the results of drilling. He added that the Egyptian company Egypro, which has a permanent headquarters in Dar El-Salam, has contracted to build and maintain mobile phone towers in Tanzania. The International Trade Exhibition for East Africa that took place in Dar El-Salam has seen the participation of 24 companies, including a number of companies that are part of the Metallurgical Industries federation.
