Since President Samia Suluhu Hassan took office in early 2021, a shift in the tone of Tanzania’s external engagement has been evident, moving towards a more outward-facing reengagement with a range of international partners and in multilateral fora. This renewal is also occurring in a rapidly changing global context marked by the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the climate crisis and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and has been tipped to also usher in a long-awaited review of official government policy.
The ‘New Foreign Policy’ document of 2001 remains Tanzania’s overarching strategy, detailing a shift towards mainstreaming economic considerations in foreign relations, while retaining core principles rooted in Tanzanian historical tradition such as non-alignment and South-South cooperation.
More than two decades on, the current period of global change provides a crucial window to assess this approach and its alignment with the contemporary values and practical interests for Tanzanian citizens in their country’s foreign policy across issues such as UN abstention on the war in Ukraine, relations with China and negotiations at COP27.
At this event, speakers discuss Tanzania’s foreign policy against the backdrop of global geopolitical change, examining the effectiveness of the current presidency’s shift in approach, the core identity and historical factors guiding Tanzanian international agency and priorities for strategic review to align with both democratic values and policy interests.
This event is held in partnership with the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS) Tanzania and is part of a series on Tanzania’s Foreign Policy Agenda: Economic Diplomacy and International Agency.
