Tanzania Pitches Pipeline of $30B in Investment Projects During Roadshow Across EU
Tanzania as Gateway to EAC
From 28 September to 6 October 2026, Tanzania undertook a roadshow across EU to pitch 68 investment projects worth more than USD 30 billion. Tanzanian Minister of State in the President’s Office for Planning and Investment, Kitila Mkumbo, led the Tanzanian delegation, which visited Finland, Italy, The Netherlands and Belgium.
The key messaging positioned Tanzania as the gateway to the East African Community (#EAC) to be developed under the theme of ‘EU-Tanzania: Turning Potential into Prosperity‘. In 2025, Tanzania registered a surge to a record level in Foreign Direct Investment (#FDI) of USD 11 billion, and is now targeting USD 15 billion for 2026.
Financial Support and Flagship Projects
The EU pledged to provide a financial package worth EUR 156 million to Tanzania. Specifically, the financing targets the #DigitalEconomy and #CriticalMinerals. In addition, the European Investment Bank, in conjunction with the World Bank, will contribute to finance the expansion of the Dar es Salaam Port. Additionally, the EU initiated negotiations with Tanzania to extend the Standard Gauge Railway (#SGR).
The Kabanga Nickel Project is one of the largest and highest-grade greenfield nickel sulfide deposits in the world. The #nickel reserves are estimated at above 52 million tonnes at a 1.98% grade, with copper and cobalt as by-products.
The Fumba Digital Hub is located in the island resort of Zanzibar, which intends to transform itself into a Digital Nomad Hot Spot. The Zanzibar Investment Promotion Authority seeks to leverage the Kilimanjaro One Submarine Cable to enhance broadband connectivity.
Finland (28-29 Sep）
In Finland, Tanzania placed the emphasis on Digitalization, FinTech, and #CriticalMinerals. Tanzania has rich reserves of #RareEarths, graphite, nickel, to name a few. Finnish financiers Finnvera and Finnfund expressed interest in financing certain Tanzanian projects. Nokia plans to visit Zanzibar to explore cooperation in the ICT sector.
Italy (1-2 Oct)
In Italy, the discussions centered around agribusiness with a focus on agro-processing to create more value locally. In particular, Tanzania specifically promoted coffee projects to Italian companies. Tanzania is eager to move up the coffee value chain by roasting, grinding and packaging coffee locally.
In addition, Tanzania Electric Supply Company (TANESCO) presented several power projects from generation to transmission. Tanzania plans to scale up its generation capacity to 8 GW by 2030, up from 4.6 GW, currently. In addition, Tanzania targets providing #ElectricityAccess to 75% of its population by 2030.
The Netherlands and Belgium (5-6 Oct)
As part of the larger delegation, the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) took a particular interest and visited the major ports of Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Antwerp in Belgium, with a view to taking cognizance of best practices for port management. The Port of Antwerp-Bruges, in collaboration with Belgium’s international cooperation agency Enabel, expressed its interest in supporting the Tanzania Gateway for Transport (T-GATE) project to optimize port performance.
EU-Tanzania Business Summit for Early 2027
As a follow-up, both sides agreed to organize the EU-Tanzania Investment and Business Forum in Dar es Salaam in early 2027. The EU-Tanzania economic partnership falls under the larger Global Gateway Initiative (#GGI), with a strong focus on Africa. On the other hand, Tanzania is currently executing its 4th National Five-Year Development Plan from 2026/27 to 2030/31, and hopes to secure the support of the EU.