Jakarta. Tanzania on Thursday opened its embassy in Jakarta, Indonesia, a year before the two countries celebrated the 60th anniversary of their diplomatic relations.

The embassy’s inauguration took place during Tanzanian senior diplomat Stergomena Tax’s visit to Indonesia. Tax and her Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi also inaugurated the embassy shortly after a bilateral meeting at the latter’s office.

“The embassy will further cement our cooperation and friendship,” Tax said at a press briefing.

Indonesia first established diplomatic relations in 1964. According to the Foreign Affairs Ministry’s official website, Indonesia opened its diplomatic representative in the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam that year. The ministry also wrote that Tanzania’s interests in Indonesia were accredited from its high commission in Kuala Lumpur.

“Indonesia has been an ally and key partner to Tanzania over the years. [Indonesia] is one of the earliest countries to open a full-fledged embassy in Tanzania after our independence,” Tax said.

“Since then, we have remained partners. And even before you established the embassy, [namely] since the Bandung Declaration in 1955,” Tax added, referring to the Asia-Africa conference communique that called for respect for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of all nations.

According to Retno, the new embassy will not only strengthen the bond between Indonesia and Tanzania, but also African countries. She added Indonesia and Tanzania have worked on capacity building programs on food security, trade, investment, and education over the past five years. Similar programs will take place in agriculture, mining, and energy in 2023-2024.  

“In the long run, we seek to level up our cooperation, including by developing a country-specific cooperation plan on development cooperation,” Retno told the same presser.

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