Tanzania has taken a wide-ranging investment pipeline spanning agricultural processing, critical minerals, ports and railway infrastructure to European investors as it seeks to convert natural resources and trade corridors into more domestic value addition.
The final European leg of the EU–Tanzania Investment and Business Forum roadshow opened in The Hague on 5 October, bringing Tanzanian officials and businesses together with around 90 prospective investors and companies.
The projects presented included coffee and cashew processing, critical-mineral opportunities, the proposed Bagamoyo and Mwambani ports, Zanzibar’s Mangapwani port hub, four dry ports and two additional standard-gauge railway lines, according to TanzaniaInvest.
An investment proposition built around value addition
The composition of the pipeline is significant. Tanzania is not presenting agriculture, mining and transport as separate investment themes. Processing capacity and logistics infrastructure are being pitched alongside the commodities they are intended to move and transform.
For agriculture, the objective is to increase processing of products such as coffee and cashews before export. In mining, Tanzania is seeking investment around critical minerals while policymakers across Africa increasingly argue for more processing and manufacturing within producer countries.
Ports, dry ports and railway expansion provide the connective infrastructure. Tanzania’s Indian Ocean coastline already gives it an important logistics role for landlocked economies in East and Central Africa, making transport investment relevant to both domestic industry and regional trade.
European finance enters the pitch
The roadshow forms part of the EU–Tanzania Investment and Business Forum 2026–2027. The European External Action Service says the programme is designed to generate investment and financing partnerships in agriculture and agribusiness, critical minerals and digital innovation, with renewable energy, transport and logistics serving as enabling sectors.
The European programme combines project pitching with business-to-business, business-to-government and business-to-financier meetings. The European leg began in Helsinki on 28 September, continued to Italy and concludes with The Hague and an Antwerp field visit on 6 October.
Projects pitched are not projects financed
The roadshow should not be confused with a series of investment commitments. Many of the projects are opportunities being presented to potential financiers and strategic partners rather than transactions that have reached financial close.
The measure of success will therefore be what follows: investor due diligence, financing structures, signed agreements and projects entering construction or operation.
Still, Tanzania’s proposition reflects a broader change in African investment strategy. Governments are increasingly trying to package raw materials together with processing, power and logistics in an effort to capture more economic value before commodities leave the continent.
Sources: European External Action Service — EU–Tanzania Investment & Business Forum; TanzaniaInvest — The Hague roadshow.
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