Vietnamese Ambassador to Tanzania Nguyen Nam Tien (centre) visits a coconut oil producing faciltiy in Mafia island (Photo: VNA) Pretoria (VNA) – Vietnamese Ambassador to Tanzania Nguyen Nam Tien paid a working visit to Mafia island district in Pwani province of Tanzania from September 27-29.
The trip aimed to learn about the district's socio-economic development, infrastructure and traffic systems linking the island with the mainland, with a focus on the development of the coconut industry, marine resource conservation and tourism, thereby promoting bilateral cooperation chances.
It was part of the Vietnamese Embassy's working programme in 2021 in an effort to foster the Vietnam-Tanzania friendship, especially cooperation between localities of the two countries.
During the trip, the Vietnamese Ambassador studied experience of local people and authorities in capitalising on economic and tourism values of coconut, as the cultivation area of the tree accounts for 84 percent of the island’s agricultural land.
He also paid a visit to the Mafia Island Marine Park (MIMP), the first of its kind in Tanzania and also serves as a marine protected area. The MIMP has formed a sustainable fishing habit amongst local fishermen and held regular patrol to keep a watch and detect violations. Such timely measures have improved coral reefs and fishery resources at the MIMP and surrounding areas which were degraded between 1980 and 1990./.
