12 July, 2018: The Minister for Education and Vocational Training in the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar, Hon. Riziki Pembe Juma officiated a one-day high-level dialogue on behalf of the Second Vice President of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar. The event, themed “The Role of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar in the Socio-economic Transformation of the Country”, was organised by UONGOZI Institute in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Planning (Zanzibar). About 50 senior officials from the public sector, private sector, academia and civil society were in attendance.

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Hon. Riziki Pembe Juma said, “This Dialogue is important because it gives us the opportunity to reassess our roles as agents of development, including the motives behind the tools we use for implementation.”

Participants deliberated on the performance of the Revolutionary Government of Zanzibar as a developmental state and how to fast-track achievement of the Government’s long-term development plan.

In her speech, Hon. Juma explained that in order to achieve socio-economic transformation and attainment of high and sustained economic growth, the RGZ adopted the Vision 2020. “The Vision set a target of achieving a sustained economic growth of between 7% and 8% annually by the year 2010 and between 9% and 10% by the year 2020,” she stated.

Hon. Juma further stated that the RGZ recognises that although progress has been made, the target set for Vision 2020 is yet to be met. She asked participants to take this opportunity to keenly evaluate the implementation of the Vision thus far, as well as the best practices presented from other countries, so that the resolutions from the meeting can contribute to speeding up the social and economic transformation of the country.

The opening ceremony was followed by a keynote presentation on lessons to be learned from East Asia, delivered by Dr. John Page, Senior Fellow in the Global Economy and Development Program at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C.

Discussions at the Forum covered lessons from other countries’ experiences, capacities required for an effective developmental state and the challenges and opportunities in achieving sustained social and economic transformation for Tanzania.