Investors and investment consultants on Tuesday brought forward eight impediments for Tanzania to redress so as to improve the country's investment environment.

Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete personally accepted the eight hitches as compiled in a Blue Book prepared by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The eight hitches were rendered into as many measures that are actionable over 12 months so as to move Tanzania toward better practice in investment promotion and facilitation, according to Juma Ngasongwa, Tanzanian minister for planning, economy and empowerment.

These measures call for better governance, transparency in tax administration and better taxation system through tax revenue amendment, strategic plans for agricultural development and East African Community-leaning double taxation and human moveability.

President Kikwete said at the acceptance ceremony that the Blue Book targets countries that have not fulfilled their obligations to make investment more conducive to national development.

The president promised that his government would improve customer services, simplify taxation procedures and do more to strengthen monitoring mechanism so that investment will eventually benefit the well-being of every Tanzanian.

The Blue Book is part of a trilogy UNCTAD and JBIC have orchestrated for the three member states of the East African Community.

The heads of state of Kenya and Uganda already accepted their respective Blue Books late last year whereas the general elections postponed the delivery in Tanzania.

Though Tanzania has been attracting foreign direct investment to the tune of some 500 million U.S. dollars per year in the past five years, foreign investors still complain about the country's slow motion due to bureaucracy and corruption.

Among the three East African Community member states, Tanzania has been the most time-consuming to apply and get investment licenses.

It takes an average of 313 days to go through all required procedures in Tanzania to start a business whereas it takes 170 days to do the same in Kenya and 155 days in Uganda, according to a World Bank report -- Doing Business in 2006: Creating Jobs.

The United Nations financial institution has therefore ranked Tanzania as Number 140 among 155 countries worldwide that had been surveyed for easiness of doing business in.

Investors need to go through as many as 26 procedures to obtain their licenses in Tanzania, as against 19 procedures in Uganda and 11 in Kenya.

The World Bank report took into account such factors as entry regulation, registration and licensing, hiring and firing of employees, property protection, credit availability, tax regime, cross-border trading, contract enforcement and closing of business.

Source: Xinhua