Tanzania drummed up a colourful African welcome for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh as he walked into state house, the hundred-year-old colonial complex lined with traditional dancers, moving to the rhythms of Africa, the venue of the hour long talks he held with Tanzanian president Jakaya Kikewete on Friday.
Addressing the media after the bilateral talks, the Prime Minister underlined how the two countries’ links may be rooted in the past but were anchored very much in the present, with Dr Singh announcing $190 million in lines of credit and aid, the building of a 250-bed super speciality Apollo Hospital in the city, their shared concerns over terrorism as well as the Indian leader’s own commitment to share his country’s expertise in agricultural best practices as well as IT and space technology.
Dr Pratap Reddy, who was in the audience didn’t miss a step when officials repeatedly introduced him as the head of Apollo hotels (sic) even as the Tanzanian president emphasised the need to bring the highest quality of medicare to his country, rather than send ailing Tanzanians to Indian hospitals for treatment as he pitched for Apollo to build five more hospitals in the rest of the country.
Dr Reddy said later that the 300 bed hospital will be built on 250 acres of land at the University of Dar es Salaam, with Apollo preparing to send its teams to train personnel. Work is set to begin shortly on the hospital, and is set to be completed in 18 months, he said.
Announcing $180 million in lines of credit for water supply projects in Tanzania, Dr Singh said, “Indian investment and technology can help Tanzania to become the industrial and technological hub of East Africa and its engine of growth.” A fresh grant of $10 million has been allocated for capacity building projects in the social and educational sectors, and another $1 million pledged for Zanzibar.
Speaking at the inauguration of the CIT centre of excellence in the Tanzanian capital later in the day, Dr Singh said, “I would specially like to announce our readiness to cooperate with Tanzania in the area of space technology. As a developing economy, we have benefited enormously from the applications of space technology.”