By THE CITIZEN

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Tanzania has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the US Major League Soccer (MLS), the National Football League (NFL), and the National Basketball Association (NBA) clubs to promote the country’s tourism and investment opportunities.

The clubs involved in the agreement are Major Soccer MSL side Seattle Sounders, Seattle Seahawks (NFL) and Portland Trailblazers (NBA).

They are under the Vulcan Inc institution owned by Paul Allen who is the co-founder of Microsoft.

Speaking immediately after signing the deals at an event held at Lumen Stadium in Seattle, US over the weekend, Tanzania’s Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Natural Resources Hassan Abbas said the government is determined to throw weight behind promotion of the tourism sector with sports and other global institutions.

He said the strategy aims to increase the number of tourists in the various tourism circuits across the country.

He was accompanied by Tanzania Tourism Board (TTB) Director Damas Mfugale at the colourful event organized by Vulcan LLC, a privately owned company founded by the Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, in collaboration with representatives from Google, Starbucks, Seattle Mayor’s Office, Boeing and the business community.

For his part, owner of those clubs, Adrian Hanauer said it was a pleasure to sign the deals and urged members of the business community in the US who have never visited Tanzania to do so since saying it is a beautiful country.

"I once visited Tanzania. I can assure those who have never visited Tanzania that it is a good country. We had also visited there with the Seattle Sounders which played against Young Africans (Yanga), Simba and the country’s national team ‘Taifa Stars’ in the 2000s," said Hanauer who is currently a majority shareholder at Sounders.

He said his club and other stakeholders are ready to join forces to boost Tanzania’s tourism sector.