Germany enjoys good relations with Tanzania. The Federal Foreign Office promotes projects related to colonial history via its Cultural Preservation Programme, which was established in 1982. Tanzania’s economy is growing. Since mid-2020, it has held the status of a Lower Middle Income Country. Nevertheless, Tanzania continues to be one of the poorest countries in the world. Around 25% of the population lives below the poverty line.

Tanzania has thus long been one of Germany’s most important development cooperation partners in sub-Saharan Africa. Since President Samia Hassan’s assumption of office in 2021, the underlying conditions for German-Tanzanian cooperation have improved. The focus is on biodiversity, water security, peace and social cohesion, social security, demographic policy, and sexual and reproductive health and rights, and particularly the advancement of women and gender equality. Germany is, alongside the United States, the largest donor to nature and environmental protection projects in Tanzania. Tanzania ratified the Paris Agreement in 2018 and submitted its first nationally determined contribution in July 2021. Since Hussein Ali Mwinyi took office as the new President of Zanzibar, cooperation with Zanzibar, too, has intensified.

The bilateral volume of trade is around 300 million euro. The Tanzania branch office of the German Chambers of Commerce Abroad in Dar es Salaam is doing valuable work to help establish businesses and networks. The main imports from Germany are machinery, chemical products and food, and Tanzania’s main exports include drinks, tobacco, raw materials and food.

Economic development has been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. Because the economy is highly dependent on international tourism, income dropped sharply. Recently, though, the tourism sector has been recovering.

Cultural cooperation with Germany is held in high regard. The focus is on academic exchange, which includes cooperation between universities and the awarding of DAAD scholarships, promoting German as a foreign language and numerous town twinning arrangements. Another priority, arising from the two countries’ common history, is cultural preservation and cooperation in the museum sector.