TANZANIA ELECTED CHAIR OF THE AFRICAN GEOLOGICAL BODY

Tanzania President, Dr. John Pombe Magufuli

From Freddy Maro

Tanzania Embassy Addis Ababa Ethiopia.

TANZANIA has been elected a Chair of the Governing Council of African Minerals and Geosciences Center (AMGC) during its 36^th annual meeting held at United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) conference Centre in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia over the weekend.

Tanzania was represented by The Permanent Representative of Tanzania to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) and Ambassador of Tanzania to Ethiopia H.E. Naimi Hamza Aziz who read the Member country’s statement on behalf of Minister for Minerals and Energy Prof. Sospeter Muhongo.

In her speech, ambassador Naimi urged Member States to consider the development of other strategic minerals such as graphite; lithium and Rare Earth Elements (REEs) which she said were not only economically viable but also important.

“The mining sector is seriously affected by the drop of mineral prices in the global market especially for precious and base metals which are mostly mined by our countries. The decline of mineral price has resulted to low exploration activities to Member States especially my country, which has led to the decline of income to the centre (AMGC),” she said.

The Tanzania Permanent Rep. further advised the African Minerals and Geo-Sciences Center(AMGC) to be more creative and diversify its economic activities for its future and sustainability.

In order for Member States to catch up with fast growing technologies, the Ambassador said it was high time for AMGC to invest in Research and Development (R&D), in which the findings would be shared with Member States for optimal utilization of mineral rich resources found in the continent.

 She said that Member States should endeavor to make AMGC a truly Pan African Center of Excellence and to achieve this more needs be done in terms of marketing, which would increase the center’s visibility and capability and promote the tremendous work it does.

“It is therefore crucial that Member States pay their respective annual contributions to the center, in order to allow it to operate more efficiently and effectively and successfully implement its programs and activities,” She emphasized.

Ambassador Naimi said Tanzania was very proud to host the AMGC and stands committed to continue to honor and fulfill its obligation which aims inter alia, to facilitate and ensure that the center fulfills its mission and mandate to serve all African countries.     

In his opening speech the outgoing AMGC chairman who is also The Ethiopian Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas H.E. Tolesa Shagi said Ethiopia and many African countries were adopting effective mineral management policies and strategies for the exploitation of mineral resources which were vital in boosting economic growth.

“The Mining sector in Ethiopia is providing support for the development of small and medium scale and artisanal mining enterprises and encourage greater participation of women in mining activities as a strategy for enhancing the development impact of mineral resources,” he said.

The Minister highlighted challenges facing mining industry in Ethiopia and Africa in general including shortage of capacity in negotiating, administering and monitoring the mining contracts as well as lack of sufficient geo-science information.

He said for African countries to overcome the challenges facing the mining industry they should opt for coordinated efforts as envisaged in the Africa Mining Vision (AMV) that was adopted by African Heads of States in February 2009, the long term goal of the vision is to create a Transparent Equitable and optimal exploitation of mineral resources to underpin broad-based sustainable growth and socio-economic development.

Speaking during the same occasion, the Deputy Executive Secretary and Chief Economist of ECA said that the Economic Commission for Africa(ECA) was acutely aware of the strategic importance of the AMGC as a partner to African Countries to collectively implement a transformative agenda for mineral resources development which would be instrumental for sustainable development.

African Minerals and Geosciences Centre (AMGC) formerly known as the Southern and Eastern African Mineral Centre (SEAMIC) started as a sub-regional development Centre for Eastern and Southern African nations namely, Angola, Comoros, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Tanzania and Uganda.

The Centre is located in Kunduchi Dar es Salaam Region, Tanzania.