No hostility between Tanzania and Malawi: Tanzanian President | General news

Tanzanian President John Magufuli said on Tuesday that there was no hostility between Tanzania and Malawi, saying the two countries still remained the best neighbors.

"During my tenure, Tanzania and Malawi will always be the best neighbor friends," Magufuli said at a public rally broadcast live by Tanzania Broadcasting Corporation (TBC), a state-owned company, in Kyela district. in the southern uplands at the edge of Nyasa Lake in the Mbeya region.

He said African countries should unite in their development ventures and attacked Western countries determined to keep the continent in a disastrous state.

"We must not allow Western countries to derail the efforts of African countries to make the continent prosperous," Magufuli told the rally on the sixth day of his eight-day official visit to the region.

Magufuli made the remarks in the context of reports that Tanzania and Malawi were bogged down in a long-running conflict on Lake Nyasa's borders.

Neighboring countries have clashed over their border on the lake since independence, and reports that the lake had vast oil and gas reserves revived the ongoing conflict on Lake Nyasa's borders.

The map of Tanzania shows that this East African country has part of Lake Nyasa, while Malawi baderts that all waters between Malawi and Tanzania are theirs.

Last week, Tanzanian and Malawian leaders urged the relevant ministers to urgently resolve the problems that slowed trade between the two countries.

"Trade barriers between the two countries must be urgently lifted for the development of the population in these countries," said President Magufuli and his Malawian counterpart, Peter Mutharika.

A statement from the Presidential Communication Directorate said the two leaders have expressed concern over trade barriers between the two countries following the negotiations held at the Malawi State House in Lilongwe.

Magufuli was in Malawi for a two-day state visit at the invitation of President Mutharika.

According to the statement, the leaders asked ministers to speed up the construction of a single border crossing at Kasumulu, on the border of the two countries, to facilitate trade between neighboring countries.

In addition, the leaders agreed to seek low interest rate loans for the development of the Songwe River Basin, which is expected to generate 180 megawatts for industrial and domestic purposes. Speaking to a joint press conference, Magufuli said trade between Tanzania and Malawi was still weak, with records in 2018 indicating a trade volume in the order of $ 64 million.