The Wire Staff 
New Delhi: India and Tanzania on Monday, October 9, upgraded their ties to a strategic partnership, announced a five year roadmap to expand defence cooperation and decided to work on an agreement increase trade in local currencies.
This was decided after talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his guest, Samia Suluhu Hassan, Tanzania’s first woman president.
Following the discussions, the two side signed six agreements ranging from cooperation in white shipping information sharing, maritime industries, digital domain, culture and sports.
In his opening statement at the joint media appearance, Indian PM Modi described Tanzania as an important partner in the Indo-Pacific and closest development partner in Africa.
“Today is a historic day in the relations between India and Tanzania. Today, we are tying our age-old friendship into a strategic partnership,” he said.
In his media statement after the talks, Modi said both countries are working on an agreement to increase trade in local currencies. Further, he noted that they had agreed to a five-year roadmap for cooperation in areas like military training, and also in the maritime sphere and defence industries.
As per the joint statement, the five-year roadmap was the result of the second meeting of the Joint Defence Cooperation committee in June 2023.
The two countries also agreed to enhance cooperation in maritime security in the Indian Ocean region. “They expressed satisfaction over the first ever India-Tanzania Joint Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) surveillance exercise conducted in July 2023 when the Indian Naval Ship Trishul visited Zanzibar and Dar es Salaam”.
The joint statement also noted that Tanzania had appreciated the hydrographic surveys of major Tanzanian ports done by India in recent years and “agreed to continue cooperation in this area”.
The prime minister also noted that India and Tanzania are “unanimous” that terrorism is the “most serious security threat to humanity”.
“We have decided to increase mutual cooperation in the field of counter-terrorism,” he said.
“The two leaders strongly condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, whenever, wherever, and by whom-so-ever committed and the use of terrorist proxies for cross-border terrorism. They agreed that terrorism is one of the most serious threats to global peace, security and stability and must seriously be addressed,” said the joint statement.