Alexandria:Transport Minister Kamel El-Wazir of Egypt and his Tanzanian counterpart, Professor Makame Mbarawa, visited Alexandria Port to explore the advancement of bilateral cooperation towards a strategic partnership in the transport sector.
According to State Information Service Egypt, the discussions focused on enhancing collaboration across various transport sectors, leveraging historic ties, and boosting Egyptian exports. The partnership aims to establish logistics hubs in Africa, with Tanzania being a crucial gateway to landlocked countries. The proposed memorandum of understanding includes creating a multipurpose terminal at Dar Al Salaam Port through an Egyptian-Tanzanian consortium.
The Dar Al Salaam Port is pivotal, serving around 90% of Tanzania's domestic market and linking six landlocked countries: Malawi, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, and Uganda. The memorandum also proposes a shipping route connecting Egypt's Red Sea ports with Dar es Salaam and establishing logistics zones in both countries. Additionally, cooperation with Tanzania's railway company is planned to integrate the new facilities with the national railway network.
El-Wazir highlighted that these efforts align with a memorandum of understanding on infrastructure signed during President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's visit to Tanzania. This initiative aims to create a multimodal logistics corridor linking Egypt's Red Sea ports to Dar Al Salaam and further to Central Africa by electric train.
Tanzania's Transport Minister Makame Mbarawa praised Egypt's support and the significance of this collaboration, expressing appreciation for the visit to Alexandria Port. He acknowledged the expertise of Egyptian companies in transport and infrastructure and indicated that technical committees would soon convene to activate projects under the memorandum.
During the meeting, Mbarawa requested scholarships for Tanzanian students at the Arab Academy for Science, Technology and Maritime Transport. El-Wazir agreed to provide specialized training programs for the Tanzanian team operating the planned Dar Al Salaam Port terminal.
The ministers also inspected several projects at Alexandria Port, including its historic museum and maritime passenger terminal, and reviewed its advanced digital operating systems. The expansion efforts at Alexandria Port are part of Egypt's comprehensive plan to become a regional hub for transport and logistics, which includes the development of multiple new ports and expansion of existing facilities.