By Lake Zone Watch Writer
Vice-President Dr Phillip Mpango has said that Tanzania and Cuba have agreed to enhance cooperation in various priority sectors such as education, health, agriculture and tourism.
Speaking after holding talks in Dar es Salaam yesterday with the Cuban Vice-President Salvador Valdes Mesa, Dr Mpango said Tanzania and Cuba have agreed to strengthen the Permanent Commission of Cooperation between the two countries for exploring strategic opportunities for development.
Dr Mpango said Cuba has also agreed to increase more experts in the health sector both in Zanzibar and Mainland Tanzania.
He said Tanzania supports Cuba’s resolve to organise the 2024 Workshop on promoting the Kiswahili language in the Latin American country and other South American states.
On the war against malaria, Dr Mpango said Tanzania and Cuba will ensure that the Kibaha-based factory, specifically built to produce anti-malaria drugs, functions to its capacity.
Tanzania and Cuba trace their cordial relations to the early 1960s when leaders of the two countries – Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and strongman Fidel Castro — laid the foundation to strengthen cooperation between them.
Cuban Vice-President Salvador Valdes Mesa thanked Tanzania’s support against all sanctions imposed on the Latin American nation since its 1959 revolution.
Despite the economic sanctions, Cuba is currently in the driver’s seat producing rare medicines in the world as part of its development strategy in the health sector.
Cuba opened its embassy in Dar es Salaam in 1964, while Tanzania established its own in 2019 during the administration of the late President John Pombe Joseph Magufuli.
Both Mwalimu Julius Nyerere and strongman Fidel Castro Ruz are credited for the existing cordial relations between the two nations which stood studiously against foreign power domination and all sorts of human rights violations.
The two countries will enhance cooperation in key sectors of education, health, agriculture and tourism.
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