Local, foreign investors` harmony vital - Kikwete

President Jakaya Kikwete

President Jakaya Kikwete has called for smart partnership between local and foreign investors with a view of narrowing differences and ushering a win- win situation.

Opening a four-day African World Business Congress (AWDC) here yesterday, Kikwete cited some of the main challenges facing local private investors as lack of capital and skills.

``It is not a matter of being xenophobic or discriminatory to say that the challenge of building the local private sector in Tanzania, another major preoccupation of ours, is how to ensure that there is an indigenous private sector alongside their foreign counterparts,`` he said.

He said: "I find it necessary to say that if the private sector excludes the local people, there is a risk of resentment and the possible unpredictable backlash in future."

The President assured about 750 participants drawn from different African countries and outside the continent: "We are determined to build a new and larger class of entrepreneurs."

He said his government was encouraging the introduction of entrepreneurial courses in school curricula with a view to helping the young generation discover, nurture and develop their entrepreneurial skills from early stages.

On the launching of the AWBC, President Kikwete said it was an important initiative because it created a platform to bring together public and private sector decision makers.

The AWBC is in its fourth edition in Arusha, Tanzania, having been previously held in Dakar, Senegal in 2004; Accra, Ghana in 2005 and Bamako, Mali in 2006.

In his speech, Dr Bamanga Tukur, co-President of the African Business Roundtable & Chairman, NEPAD Business Group, called for a continental approach to harness what was within reach for greater achievements and unity.