(Bloomberg) -- Tanzania will target boosting investment from India, the East African nation’s biggest trading partner, by 10-fold in the next two years. 

The Tanzania Investment Centre expects foreign direct investment from India to jump to $3 billion a year by 2025 from $300 million, Gilead Teri, executive director at the investment-promotion agency, said in an interview from New Delhi.

Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan — who’s visiting India — and Prime Minister Narendra Modi agreed to cut red tape and accelerate trade and investment between the two nations. Countries in Africa have become the second-largest recipient of credit from India as it tries to catch up with China in expanding its influence in the resource-rich continent.

Read More: India Increases Africa Lending in Race to Counter China

Hassan is keen to lure Indian investment to industries including pharmaceuticals, agro-processing and farm mechanization, Teri said. Tanzania will also allocate 1,000 acres of land for Indian investors to build an industrial park in the country, he said.

Total trade between the two nation’s jumped 53% to $4.7 billion in 2022, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That helped the Asian nation topple China as Tanzania’s top trading partner. 

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