By Correspondent Benny Mwaipaja
Tanzania and Comoros are looking to deepen economic cooperation, with trade, investment, financial services and digital revenue collection emerging as key areas for closer collaboration between the two Indian Ocean neighbours.
Tanzania’s Minister for Finance, Ambassador Khamis Mussa Omar, said stronger economic ties should become the cornerstone of relations between the two countries, with the focus on creating practical benefits for businesses, investors and citizens.
Ambassador Omar made the remarks in Dar es Salaam during talks with Comoros Minister for Finance, Budget and Banking Sector Moussa Abderemane, who was visiting Tanzania with a delegation.
The Tanzanian minister identified trade and investment, banking and financial services, public financial management, infrastructure development, energy, tourism and agriculture as areas with significant potential for cooperation.
He said creating a more business-friendly environment to facilitate the movement of goods, services, capital and business people between Tanzania and Comoros would be critical to unlocking that potential.
Easier cross-border movement, he added, could help expand bilateral trade and investment while creating new employment opportunities.
“Economic cooperation should be at the heart of efforts to strengthen relations between Tanzania and Comoros,” Ambassador Omar said, stressing the importance of moving beyond diplomatic ties towards deeper commercial engagement.
The discussions also provided an opportunity for the two countries to exchange experience on economic management, domestic revenue mobilisation and public finance.
For Comoros, Tanzania’s experience in deploying digital systems to modernise revenue collection appears to be of particular interest.
Mr Abderemane said his visit was aimed partly at learning how Tanzania had advanced the use of information and communication technology (ICT) in government revenue collection and management.
He said Comoros intended to draw lessons from Tanzania’s experience to strengthen its own revenue systems, including the use of digital tax platforms.
The move is expected to improve revenue administration while supporting broader economic growth in Comoros.
“We want to use the lessons from this visit to improve our government revenue collection systems through ICT and tax systems,” Mr Abderemane said.
The emphasis on digital revenue collection comes as governments across Africa seek to broaden their domestic tax bases, improve compliance and reduce leakages through greater use of technology.
For Tanzania, the engagement with Comoros also provides an opportunity to expand its economic footprint in a neighbouring market with close historical, social and geographical links.
The two countries’ economies are connected by trade, tourism, maritime transport and longstanding people-to-people relations. Greater cooperation in these areas could provide opportunities for Tanzanian businesses to access the Comorian market while opening the door for increased investment and commercial partnerships.
The meeting also underscored the potential for cooperation in sectors such as energy, agriculture and infrastructure, where investment and technical expertise could support economic transformation in both countries.
Mr Abderemane thanked Tanzania for its role as an important development partner to Comoros across economic, social and cultural areas.
The talks were attended by Comoros Ambassador to Tanzania Ahamada Elbadaoul Mohamed Fakih, SoftNet Technologies Regional Marketing Director Maharage Chande and senior officials from both countries. The latest engagement signals a broader push to turn Tanzania-Comoros relations into a more commercially focused partnership, with digitalisation, trade and investment increasingly central to the economic agenda.
