Tanzania and UK: A royal partnership

ByMarianne Young

This week a senior member of the British Royal Family, Her Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh, is visiting the United Republic of Tanzania. This important visit will celebrate the best of UK-Tanzania collaboration, particularly in the health and agriculture sectors.

My mission as the newly arrived British High Commissioner is to strengthen our long- standing bilateral relations, building a deeper partnership to support our mutual economic aspirations and development aims. This strong partnership allows us to jointly tackle important global issues from climate change to women’s empowerment and ensure equitable access to healthcare. Such work helps make both our countries safer and more prosperous.

High level visits like this are important contributors to that mission.

It is not the first time The Duchess of Edinburgh has visited Tanzania. She previously enjoyed Tanzanian hospitality in 2004 and I am delighted to welcome her back to continue building the strong links we share.

During her week with us, Her Royal Highness will visit Dar es Salaam, Zanzibar and Arusha. The Duchess is an active supporter of organisations working in Tanzania to combat neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) such as trachoma and lymphatic filariasis, which affect millions of people around the world.

The Commonwealth has been at the forefront of the global push to eliminate trachoma and is aiming to eradicate it from the entire Commonwealth by 2030 through securing renewed commitments across all tiers of leadership.

The Duchess will visit projects initiated by Sightsavers and Uniting Against NTDs and see first-hand what progress Tanzania has made on eliminating tropical diseases. A highlight of the trip will be overseeing the administration of the 12 billionth

Albendazole dose, a treatment which has helped protect countless people from tropical diseases in Tanzania and beyond.

Charitable work is at the heart of the duties of the British Royal Family. Her Royal Highness undertakes hundreds of visits every year across the UK and around the world, to schools, hospitals, military bases, and community groups to see their work first-hand and to highlight it to wider audiences.

Each member of the Royal Family has their own interests and issues which are close to their hearts and which they endeavour to draw attention to and lend their support and patronage. In addition to working towards the elimination of avoidable blindness, The Duchess of Edinburgh is a strong advocate for gender equality.

In this area, Her Royal Highness will visit a clinic supported by the UK’s £65 million Family Planning programme which enables women to safely plan their pregnancies and improve their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

The UK has long worked in partnership with Tanzania on health issues. Our newly announced £15 million health resilience programme aims to build a more resilient and sustainable health system that effectively reduces preventable deaths and tackles major disease outbreaks and makes progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) by 2030.

Agriculture is also a keen interest for Her Royal Highness. During her visit to Arusha, The Duchess of Edinburgh will witness the launch of a new horticulture export accelerator programme in collaboration with the Tanzania Horticultural Association. This UK-funded programme will help Tanzanian producers get their goods onto UK supermarket shelves, taking advantage of the generous UK Developing Countries Trading Scheme.

Throughout her visit and across the country, Her Royal Highness will see firsthand how the UK and Tanzania are partnering in these important sectors and working together to address global challenges.

As you might expect with Commonwealth partners, there has always been a special bond between the Royal Family and Tanzania.

From Queen Elizabeth II’s memorable visit to Tanzania in 1979 as the guest of Mwalimu Julius Nyerere, to the visits by the current monarch, King Charles III, in 1984 and 2011.

The heir to the throne, the current Prince of Wales, also travelled to Dar es Salaam in 2018, meeting with President John Magufuli and discussing Tanzania’s efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade. I understand the Prince’s remarks in Swahili were received very positively!

The UK was particularly appreciative of the tribute President Samia Suluhu Hassan paid by attending the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

This week we add a new chapter to that strong and historic relationship.

Whilst engaging in vital work, Her Royal Highness will once again get to experience first-hand the warmth and hospitality of the Tanzanian people, as I have in my first few weeks in this country.

I look forward to further developing UK-Tanzania collaboration and building on this important partnership.

Marianne Young is the British High Commissioner to Tanzania