CHANGE is in the air as Dallas, the famed capital of the state of Texas in the United States, has signed an agreement with the city of Dar es Salaam in a sister city partnership accord. Initial glimpses on this initiative were at best lukewarm, where appetisers like training for municipal officials and institutional collaboration took centre stage, with real business design seemingly in the background. Yet these matters must have been discussed at length as economic diplomacy was at work, with the Dallas mayor turning up for the visit instead of sending an exploratory business team.

The mayors of the two cities, signed the agreement described as intended to boost commercial, cultural and educational exchanges “between the two dynamic urban centers,” where the resident US chargé d’affaires  and Tanzania’s US envoy attended the ceremony. That it also attracted senior government officials, top executives and range of diplomats goes without saying, while it also shows the scope of interest and potential initiatives in the new engagement. The visiting mayor said the partnership is about building bridges at the community, business and institutional level, specifically.

Iti is also likely he didn’t exaggerate when he said that the visiting side sees Dar es Salaam as a key city regionally and a potential strategic partner for “global innovation and shared prosperity.” That isn’t what comes to mind for most analysts or observers in the region, who have difficulties or ingrained hesitation to see any business links with the United States as mutually beneficial. Perhaps this is the sphere where plenty of bridge building is needed, whereas no such effort is needed from US rivals, as there is a long history of cooperation precisely anchored in US-Africa misunderstandings.

Just to see the scale of interest in the visit, the mayor and his delegation had an eight day itinerary ahead of them, with additional stops planned for Zanzibar and Arusha, working in tandem with the Tanzanian American Chamber of Commerce (TACC).

The Dallas-based organization is committed to the strengthening of bilateral trade and investment ties, thus the delegation will engage in high-level meetings with the Dar es Salaam regional secretariat, government officials and the US Chamber of Commerce here. Already there are intimations of collaboration in agribusiness, healthcare, renewable energy, logistics, digital technology, manufacturing and financial services.

The Dallas mayor had plenty to say on Dallas, affirming that the city is a global leader in economic innovation. That much can indeed be said about any significant city in the United States, let alone the capital of a petro-dollar metropolis, expected to host nine matches and one semi-final encounter in next year’s World Cup finals on the basis of the FIFA calendar. It is hard to see how the city with its leveraged infrastructure development and forward-thinking business policies building one of the most dynamic urban economies worldwide can exchange best practices with Dar es Salaam, for once.

 What can plausibly happen is if the visiting mayor’s hosts will be interested in learning how successful cities and thus countries are organised, as the United States has a range of regulatory agencies about a few key items like airline safety, foods and cosmetics, medicines definitely; not so many others. In the US practically any idea with potential social impact obtains credit from a venture fund or start up leveraging finance often by municipal authorities, as banks target sizeable projects for substantial credits. Yet with a background of more than 300 public commercial entities protected by law in what they do, it is hard for Dar es Salaam to imitate Dallas, thus it settles for training, etc.