A year of celebration; 50 years of Finnish representation in Dar es Salaam

The first Finnish ambassador accredited to Tanzania, Seppo Pietinen, started his duties in Dar es Salaam 1.3.1971. Now 50 years have passed since that day and another 13 ambassadors have followed in his footsteps, including our second Ambassador to Tanzania, President Martti Ahtisaari.

Even before an Embassy was created in Dar es Salaam, two Finnish Ambassadors had already been accredited to Tanzania from Addis Abeba in Ethiopia.

Finland recognized Tanganyika already in 1961 just after her independence, and formal diplomatic relations were established four years later in 1965. In the early 1960’s, the first development cooperation programs were started jointly with other Nordic countries and soon after the bilateral cooperation between Finland and Tanzania was begun. In fact, Tanzania became Finland’s first partner-country in development cooperation. Since then cooperation has been active and Tanzania has remained one of the main partners in Finnish development cooperation.

Finland is currently finalizing her country strategy and country program for Tanzania. Our country strategy lays out new cooperation initiatives outside of our traditional development cooperation, seeking new equitable and mutually interesting political and trade partnerships while continuing our historic development cooperation. Similarly, our new country program charts out the next four years of our development cooperation.

What did Tanzania look like 50 years ago? The country then had approximately 14 million inhabitants. There are now around 55 million inhabitants, and Dar es Salaam has become the home of over five million Tanzanians. Back in 1971, Dar es Salaam had around 390,000 inhabitants. The average life expectancy was 48 years for women and 46 years for men. Now these figures are 66 years and 63 years respectively.

Much has improved both in our bilateral relations and in the Tanzania’s development. Finland enjoys considerable trust and appreciation in Tanzania, and has stood by the country both during her success and challenging times.

A great deal of this has been achieved thanks to the local and Finnish employees of the Embassy who have helped to improve our relations and build trust. Let me thank all of you!

In recognition of this anniversary, during this spring we will publish recollections and short memoirs of past Finnish ambassadors to Tanzania.

 

Riitta Swan

Ambassador