Monday July 20, 2026
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi’s visit to Tanzania has put agricultural investment, trade routes and Nile Basin cooperation at the centre of a renewed push to deepen ties between Cairo and Dar es Salaam.
Al Sisi travelled to Tanzania on July 18, 2026.
During the visit, Egypt signalled its interest in reclaiming agricultural land, creating logistics zones and seeking greater understanding among Nile Basin states on water-related issues.
The issues were raised at a joint news conference held by Al Sisi and Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan during the Egyptian leader’s one-day trip to the Tanzanian capital, an official Egyptian source said.
During her meeting with the Egyptian president, Hassan praised the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project.
Al Sisi described the project as an encouraging example of cooperation designed to promote development and prosperity, according to a statement from Egypt’s presidency.
Electricity and renewable energy
Egypt signed a contract in Tanzania on December 12, 2018, for the construction of a water-storage dam and a 2,115-megawatt hydropower plant.
Then-Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry attended the start of the dam reservoir’s filling in 2022.
After expanded discussions, the two presidents oversaw the signing of two memorandums of understanding covering transport, electricity and renewable energy.
“I held fruitful and constructive bilateral talks with the president of Tanzania, reflecting our shared determination to strengthen the strategic partnership between the two countries in various fields,” Al Sisi said at the news conference, according to the Egyptian statement.
Food security
“We discussed opportunities to launch an agricultural land reclamation project in Tanzania with the aim of achieving food security for both countries and meeting national needs for essential and strategic crops. We also discussed expanding the project in successive stages and eventually moving toward exports,” he added.
Al Sisi said Egypt was also prepared to contribute to the expansion and modernisation of the Port of Dar es Salaam. He said the effort should form part of a wider strategy for regional logistics corridors, linking Tanzania with neighbouring countries.
“We also discussed a proposal to establish a shipping line linking the ports of Safaga in Egypt and Dar es Salaam, as well as a multimodal corridor between Cairo and Dar es Salaam through a number of joint development projects,” he said. “In this regard, I affirmed my aspiration to strengthen Tanzania’s positive and constructive role, based on encouraging mutual understanding and a spirit of cooperation among the brotherly countries that share the river in the Nile Basin.”
Tanzania is among the 11 countries of the Nile Basin, alongside Burundi, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, Eritrea, South Sudan, Sudan and Egypt.
‘Fruitful discussions’
In October 2024, Egypt’s Water Resources and Irrigation Ministry called on Nile Basin states that signed the Entebbe Agreement from 1999 to 2024 to review their positions and resume cooperation talks. Egypt has raised concerns that the agreement could affect its annual Nile water allocation, estimated at 55 billion cubic metres, which is regarded as the country’s primary water source.
Separately, the Egyptian and Tanzanian presidents attended the closing session of a business meeting involving representatives from both nations. More than 35 Egyptian business representatives and 120 Tanzanian counterparts took part, according to another statement from the Egyptian presidency.
Al Sisi pointed to “fruitful discussions and practical results in the trade and investment sectors.”
He said ministers from the two countries had signed two memoranda of understanding, while Egypt and Tanzania had agreed to advance joint agriculture and livestock projects.
Rail links
“We also agreed on projects to develop ports, maritime and rail links, logistics zones, roads and infrastructure, which will help facilitate trade and the transportation of goods,” he added.
Al Sisi last visited Dar es Salaam in August 2017, a trip described at the time as the first by an Egyptian president since 1968.
Egypt-Tanzania trade totalled $12.3 million in the first quarter of 2026, according to previously released Egyptian statistics, while Egyptian exports to Tanzania increased by 3.2%.
