REMARKS BY AMB. BRIG. GEN. WILBERT IBUGE

MEETING OF MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND EAST AFRICAN COOPERATION WITH HEADS OF DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS (IOs) 

ACREDITED TO THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA

05 FEBRUARY 2021, DAR ES SALAAM

The Hon. Prof. Palamagamba J. A. M. Kabudi (MP), Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation;

The Hon. Mr. William Tate Ole Nasha (MP), Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation;

Directors of Departments and Units in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation;

Your Excellency, Ahamada El-Badaoui Mohamed Fakih, Ambassador of the Union of the Comoros and DEAN of the Diplomatic Corps;

Your Excellencies Ambassadors, High Commissioners, and Representatives of International Organizations;

Consuls -General Present;

Honorary Consuls;

Members of the Diplomatic Corps;

Ministry Officials and supporting staff;

Ladies and Gentlemen.

A very good morning to you all. 

At outset, I wish to express, in my capacity as Chief Executive Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, my sincere thanks to God Almighty for bestowing on us mercies so that we are able to meet here today.

Let me also tender my earnest appreciation to you all for the manner in which many of you sent and we received heartfelt Happy Holidays and New Year 2021 wishes on behalf of the Ministry. I take this opportunity to reiterate and profoundly wish you all, your staff and loved ones a year filled of good health, success and happiness. This is also meant in the context of the on-going COVID-19 Pandemic, which has seen us, the human family, lose a host number of our global citizenry.

Your Excellencies Ambassadors, High Commissioners and Representatives of International Organizations, before the Hon. Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation addresses you, the Honourable William Tate Ole Nasha, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, will do so. However, Honourable Minister, allow me to share a couple of quick points.

Excellencies, the year that just ended 2020, was a significant one, especially because of two critical and monumental events;

(1)         The first was COVID-19 in March 2020; and

(2)         The second is our 2020 General Elections.

That we are able to meet now after almost a year, I thought it is opportune that we remind each other on the firmed Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations 1961, which we in Tanzania we domesticated the convention through the enactment of the Diplomatic and Consular immunities and Privileges Act of 1986.

In this regards, we shall continue to endeavor to support you in understanding our procedures and practice so that you do not contravene the dictates of Article 41(1) of VCR 1961, which clearly states:

“It is the duty of all persons enjoying privileges and immunities to respect the LAWS and REGULATIONS of the RECEIVING State. They also have a DUTY NOT TO interfere in the INTERNAL AFFAIRS of that State.”

A second point, in fact under the same article 41 (2) of the VCDR 1961 clearly stipulates:

“(2) All official businesses with the receiving State entrusted to the mission by the sending State shall be conducted with or through the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of the receiving State or such other ministry as may be agreed."

I wish to reiterate that “All official communication (or business) with the Diplomatic Corps shall be carried out through the Ministry.” This is also in accordance with Tanzania’s Presidential Circular No. 2 of 1964 which remains operational to date.

This includes appointments with sectoral ministries and official visits to regional authorities. For this reason, I wish to introduce in general the Heads of Geographical and Multilateral Directorates that are at your disposal to link you with sectoral ministries and to the regional authorities and the National Leadership of our Country (President, Vice President, President of Zanzibar and his deputies, Prime Minister, Speaker of Parliament and Chief Justice) through the office of Chief protocol.

For ease of our work together let us follow these procedures and regulations.

Honorable Deputy Minister, please welcome to give a few remarks and welcome the Hon. Minister to address the members of the Diplomatic Corps.

Asante sana!