India, Tanzania agree to turn ties into strategic partnership: PM Modi

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday announced that India and Tanzania have agreed to turn their bilateral relations into a strategic partnership.

In a joint press statement after bilateral and delegation levels talks between the two nations, Modi said in the presence of visiting Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan, that they are working on an agreement to trade in local currencies.

Tanzania is India’s largest development partner in Africa, Modi said, adding that India is providing support to it in fields like skill development, capacity building, vocational training, agriculture, health, water supply and other sectors.

A five-year roadmap on defence ties between India and Tanzania has been worked on, under which maritime cooperation and defence industry development will be the key focus areas, he informed.

The Prime Minister informed that Tanzania has agreed to join the biofuel alliance, which was announced during the G20 summit in New Delhi last month.

In addition to this, the African country has also decided to join the Big Cat alliance, which will help in exchange of felines like leopards and cheetahs, Modi added.

Modi also said that the opening of an IIT Madras campus in Zanzibar will open up new dimensions of quality education for students in Tanzania as well as of other nations.

The two sides also inked pacts on cooperation in the fields of space, digital payments, maritime security, combatting piracy and drug trafficking.