Tanzania-Russia cooperation key to food security – minister
Tanzania is seeking to expand agricultural cooperation with Russia, viewing Moscow’s expertise in farming technologies as key to strengthening food security, Tanzanian minister Kitila Alexander Mkumbo has said.
“Developing cooperation in the agricultural sector can make a significant contribution to food security and job creation,” Mkumbo noted, speaking at the third meeting of the Russian-Tanzanian Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in Arusha, Tanzania.
Mkumbo, who serves as minister of state in the President’s Office for Planning and Investment, also pointed to expanding trade, investment projects, and cooperation in uranium extraction as areas capable of pushing bilateral ties “to a qualitatively new level.” According to Russia, trade turnover between the two countries rose by nearly 20% in 2025, while Tanzania’s share in Russia’s foreign trade hit a five-year high.
Russia currently exports wheat, meslin and fertilizers to Tanzania, while importing tobacco raw materials, coffee, tea, and fruit from the African country.
Tourism was another area discussed during the talks. Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Reshetnikov said tourist flows from Russia to Tanzania surged by almost 40% in 2025, adding that Moscow supports Air Tanzania’s plans to establish direct flights between the two countries.
Earlier, the Russian minister announced at the Russia-Tanzania Investment Forum that Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom is continuing work on a uranium project, also known as Mantra, in southern Tanzania.
Andrey Maslov, the head of the Center for African Studies at Moscow’s Higher School of Economics (HSE), told RT that more than 100 Russian business representatives had traveled to Tanzania for the forum, many of them returning for repeat visits.
“Mantra is an important project for the development of bilateral relations,” the expert said, noting that Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s administration had ensured “all the conditions for its implementation and the creation of a new uranium mining industry in the country.”
Maslov added the two sides had established a joint expert group on digital projects, coordinated by Russia’s HSE and Tanzania’s ICT Commission.
