Tanzania Urges African Nations to Speed Industry, Trade and Infrastructure

What changed

Tanzania has urged African countries to speed up industrialisation, intra-African trade and the integration of transport, energy and digital infrastructure.

Vice President Deogratius John Ndejembi made the call on behalf of President Samia Suluhu Hassan at an African Union coordination meeting in El Alamein, Egypt. Tanzania also said it may propose “Bridging Borders: Accelerating African Economic Integration through Infrastructure Connectivity” as the AU’s 2028 theme.

Why it matters

Tanzania is presenting infrastructure as the machinery behind continental trade, not as a collection of isolated national projects. It pointed to the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority, the Standard Gauge Railway, ports, air transport and electricity-interconnection projects across Eastern and Southern Africa.

That approach matters because the African Continental Free Trade Area depends on goods, power and data moving across borders with fewer breaks. Better links could help businesses build value chains across several countries and make economies more resilient to global shocks.

The political message is also clear: Africa’s integration frameworks already exist. The harder task is turning them into working connections between markets and production systems. Ndejembi called for faster implementation, stronger coordination and more resources.

The proposed 2028 theme remains a proposal, not an adopted AU decision. And the meeting produced no financing commitments, timetable or implementation targets. The next test will be whether the infrastructure language becomes a funded programme rather than another elegant phrase waiting at the border.