Strategies and challenges of economic diplomacy on industrialisation in Tanzania

Abstract

Economic diplomacy is cited as one of the modern strategies to boost economic development in the world. Tanzania, since the 1990’s, changed from political diplomacy to economic diplomacy to revitalize the economic sectors, including industrial development. This study, therefore, was set to examine the implication of economic diplomacy on industrialization in Tanzania. The study employed a qualitative research approach to collect data from the selected departments of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, Tanzania Investment Centre, Members of academic staff from the College of Business Education, University of Dodoma, and Mozambique-Tanzania Centre for Foreign Relations. Similarly, documentary reviews from the government Ministries were carried out to complement primary data. The findings revealed that economic diplomacy has played a significant role in industrial development in Tanzania by employing strategies such as leaders' attendance to international conferences, the building of facilitative international environment, and offering incentives for investments. Likewise, the study noted that economic diplomacy for industrial development is faced with several challenges, including, among others, low availability of data, low aggression, mentality and prioritization of industries and standards of commodities. The study concludes that economic diplomacy strategies are still relevant in bringing about industrialization in Tanzania. The study recommends that there is a need to revisit government policies, networking with other countries, and strengthen institutional frameworks to widen the role of economic diplomacy inindustrialization.