“We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow.” Said the former UK Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, when he was delivering a speech in the House of Commons on March 1848

Since President Samia assumed office on March 19, 2021, following the decease of President John Magufuli, Samia’s foreign policy has utterly derailed from her predecessor, disembarked from the nationalistic economic policies and embraced liberal doctrines.

With all things she had committed to since she took office, President Samia has proven to live by the words of Lord Palmerston, for she has been pulling closer those deemed enemies, healing the rifts and forming new formidable ties with them. 

“Your enemies should not be our enemies”, said Nelson Mandela, so did President Samia Suluhu; she avoided inheriting any of those deemed foes with the former regime. Samia chose talks to prevail over arrogance. 

President Samia’s visit to Belgium has revived the hopes to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) deal, which her predecessor described as a “form of colonialism.” “It is bad for our country,” Dr Magufuli affirmed.

President Samia seems to have taken a pretty different approach to the deal. Giving space for further negotiation appears to be an ideal move to President Samia. She hinted that Tanzania expects to host an Economic Partnership Agreements (EPA) in Dar es Salaam next month (March 2022).

Speaking yesterday during an interview on Deutsche Welle (DW) in Brussels, Belgium, President Hassan said, “It is true that our relations face some challenges during the past three or four years, but we have sat down and ironed out the differences. They [the relations] are now back to the same as they were before.” This statement signifies a high chance for Tanzania to give greenlights to the deal’s approval. 

In an interview, President Samia revealed that the EU has agreed to release 111.5 million Euros that the EU had suspended during parties animosity. 

Not only with European Union, in the last 4-5 years, Tanzania almost lost its usual friendliness with the potential west. In 2018 World Bank suspended $300 million to support the country’s pre-primary and primary education after President Magufuli banned teen mothers from attending regular education curriculum. 

Soon after, President Samia revoked Magufuli’s decree that lasted for four years in November 2021; a month later, on December 17 2022, the World Bank released a statement to release a loan of $500 million to boost Primary Student Learning that will support more than 12 million pre-primary and primary student in Tanzania. 

On March 19 2022, President Samia will mark her 1st anniversary as the 6th term President of the United Republic of Tanzania. Her maiden year in office has shed light on her economic ideology and diplomacy, which shows that Tanzania shall recover injuries and discomfort he had encountered in the past 4 to 5 years ago.