Following the invitation of the President of the United Republic of Tanzania, H.E. Dr. Samia Suluhu Hassan to the President of the Republic of Guinea Bissau H.E. Umaro Mokhtar Sissoco Embaló (first left) who had a three-day visit here in Tanzania. Among the places that the President decided to visit is the Benjamin William Mkapa Special Economic Zone in Dar es Salaam. This visit is the result of the success that Tanzania has achieved through the Special Economic Zones program, which has been an attraction for many African leaders in sharing experiences. During the visit, the President of Guinea Bissau was pleased with how factories were working efficiently, thus giving the message that Africa can achieve its goals through EPZ and SEZ programs.

Among the factories that the president managed to visit is the jeans factory of Tanzania Tooku Garment, where all products are sold in the United States.

The Director General of EPZA, Mr. Charles Itembe, mentioned that until now more than 250 factories have been registered through EPZA where more than 60,000 Tanzanians have direct employment, and 100,000 short-term jobs. He also told him that the BWM SEZ area itself has 21 buildings where all are active in production, and in that area alone, more than 4,500 Tanzanian are directly employed, and 8,600 indirectly employed, father more, BWM SEZ has attracted a total of 51.9 million US dollars capital, exports reaching 160.8 million US dollars and expenditures to the country being 82.9 million US dollars, where the leading sectors are Agro Processing, Smart Cards, Coffee, and Textile.

In addition, he explained that the Government's plan is to have areas of this type throughout the country in order to build a competitive economy that will lead to an increase in foreign exchange in the country.