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Tanzania and Malawi on Wednesday agreed to foster economic cooperation in transport, fisheries, mining, tourism and agricultural sectors.

The agreement to promote economic cooperation between the two countries was made during talks between Tanzanian President John Magufuli and his Malawian counterpart Lazarus Chakwera in Tanzania’s commercial capital Dar es Salaam.

The talks were held at the start of a three-day state visit to Tanzania by Malawian President Chakwera.

In a joint news conference, the two leaders expressed optimism that the two friendly neighbors stood a better chance of enhancing their countries’ economic growth and improving the welfare of their people.

Magufuli said Malawi should not count itself as a landlocked country as Tanzania’s leading port of Dar es Salaam was open for use anytime, as well as the Mtwara port in the south.

Magufuli directed the Ministry of Works, Transport and Communications and the Tanzania Revenue Authority to open offices in Malawi’s city of Lilongwe in 60 days to ease transportation of Malawian freight to Tanzania’s ports.

He said trade between the two countries has gone up from 60 million U.S. dollars in 2015 to over 80 million dollars in 2019.

For his part, the Malawian leader thanked Tanzania for availing his landlocked country two ports of Mtwara and Dar es Salaam.

President Chakwera supported President Magufuli’s position toward implementation of flagship projects without depending on donor funding.

He said Malawi was also better placed to learn from how Tanzania has managed to control the smuggling of its minerals.