Jaishankar terms Tanzania visit 'productive'

New Delhi, July 9

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar has described his visit to Tanzania as "productive".

In a joint briefing with his Tanzanian counterpart Stergomena Tax on Saturday, he conveyed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's message that solidarity between India and Africa must be expressed in practical terms.

Jaishankar said he "was very glad for the guidance that we got from the (Tanzanian) president (Samia Hassan) about how to further develop our relationship".

"Overall, it has been a very productive visit... I would like to end by emphasising that prime minister Modi believes that the deep solidarity between India and Africa, it must be expressed in very practical terms, in a way in which we share experiences, we share capabilities, we contribute to each others understanding of the world," he said during the briefing at the end of his four-day visit.

He added that the "Joint Commission meeting and the roadmap that we have put forward is a way of doing it because prime minister Modi deeply believes that partnerships are made by recognising the priorities of partners and whether it is water or whether it is technology, whether it is defence, whether it is trade, these are very much the priorities that we hear from our Tanzanian partners and we are very privileged to be part of your developmental journey".

Referring to his visit to Zanzibar, where the MoU to set up the first foreign campus of IIT, was signed, Jaishankar said: "I also would like to recognise the meeting which I had with the President of Zanzibar. He was very, very supportive of what we are seeking to do in terms of the early establishment of the campus there."

The External Affairs Minister referred to his visit to water projects in Kiduthani in Zanzibar and Kibamba and also to the Dar es Salaam Institute of Technology, with which, he said, India has had a long association.