Araf Sykes, Regional Sales Manager at GE Tanzania, discusses growth in the country and shares his hopes for the continuing partnership between GE and Tanzania.

"Last year, our GDP growth was running at around 6.9% and it's currently at 7%. Given our President's agenda, and the growth that he seeks, especially in the energy sector, we are currently at around 1.5 GW for the entire country, and we are looking to grow that to 10 GW by 2025. As everybody knows, in order to grow the economy, you certainly also have to grow the power sector, which is underway. There are two projects going on at the moment, in terms of power generation, so I definitely feel that we are headed in the right direction", says Araf Sykes.

"GE works in several sectors in Tanzania, not just power. We are also very involved in healthcare, which we are looking to strengthen. We recently held a Healthcare Conference, which was attended by the former President, Kikwete, as well as the Minister of Health. It was very positive. We are moving forward in the health sector and look forward to playing a greater role in that field. We are also involved in transportation and locomotion. As you know, we are currently very dependent on the all too often dilapidated road infrastructure, therefore rail is another front where we hope to improve a good deal, especially through our locomotives. Finally, there's the oil and gas sector. These are the areas where we are looking to grow in Tanzania and add value. There are all sorts of opportunities. The revival of Air Tanzania is also on the cards, as the national airline. Since we also manufacture jet engines and are very active in that area, this is yet another opportunity for us to add value and offer assistance", he adds.