East African Business Week

The head of the European Union Delegation to Tanzania, Ambassador Tim Clarke, has called upon European business community to tap the increasing trade and investment opportunities resulting from the East African regional integration.
Speaking at a Business Networking meeting in Dar es Salaam last week, Ambassador Clarke said that given its geographical, location Tanzania has potential to serve as a gateway to the East African region.
He urged European businesses to see to it that they fully utilize the opportunity for their benefit and that of the country and the EA region as a whole.
"Implementation of the EAC Common Market, as it evolves, will bring increasing trade and investment opportunities for EU businesses," he said.
The EU, is  the largest development partner of Tanzania, but EU companies also bring significant investment to Tanzania, Ambassador Clarke said.
The Business Networking meeting, which aimed to provide a platform for European business representatives to meet and exchange views on challenges and opportunities of doing business in Tanzania, was organised by the EU Delegation and EU Member States present in Tanzania.       
Enlisting achievements made so far, Clarke said  institutionally the EU was engaged in several processes aimed at facilitating EAC integration including Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations and support programmes to EAC integration.
"In future," he said, "we are seeking to be in more active communication with the business community in East Africa-through the East African Business Council, and at a country level."
Clarke said the EU had initiated a dialogue with the Tanzania Revenue Authority where they had agreed on 13 points of action relating to clarity and transparency of tax regulations such as audit process and the open-ended nature of the TRA interventions.
As a result of the dialogue, Ambassador Clarke revealed, TRA has agreed to invite EU business representative to become a member of their stakeholder consultative meeting which until now has been including only sectoral and national representation.
The EU business community is keen to contribute to the policy and regulatory debate and to provide feedback on the ongoing reform process.