Tanzania and Rwanda signed a bilateral energy cooperation agreement in Kigali on May 19, formalising a broad-based pact that spans cross-border electricity trade, joint power infrastructure, petroleum product distribution, oil and natural gas exploration, liquefied natural gas opportunities, and the application of artificial intelligence in the energy sector.

The accord was signed by Tanzania's Minister of Energy Deogratius Ndejembi and Rwanda's Minister of Infrastructure Dr. Jimmy Gasore, with President Samia Suluhu Hassan and President Paul Kagame witnessing the signing at the Kigali Convention Center. Tanzania's delegation included Minister of Foreign Affairs Ambassador Mahmoud Thabit Kombo, Minister of Finance Ambassador Khamis Omar, Zanzibar Deputy Minister for Water, Energy and Minerals Dr. Seif Pandu, and Permanent Secretary for Electricity and Renewable Energy Felchesmi Mramba. The signing took place on the margins of the second Nuclear Energy Innovation Summit for Africa (NEISA 2026), held from May 18-21 under the theme "Powering Africa's Future: Turning Nuclear Energy Ambition into Investable Reality."

The agreement builds on existing physical infrastructure already linking the two grids. In March 2024, the power grids of Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania were fully interconnected and synchronised through the 80 MW Regional Rusumo Falls Hydroelectric Project, which comprises 372 kilometres of 220 kilovolt overhead transmission lines. TANESCO signed its Power Purchase Agreement with Rusumo Power Company Limited on September 30, 2023.

For Tanzania, the new pact reinforces its positioning as a regional electricity corridor straddling the Eastern Africa Power Pool and the Southern African Power Pool, with interconnections to Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi already operational and links to Zambia and Uganda continuing to advance. The country is targeting 5,000 megawatts of generation capacity following the commissioning of the 2,115 megawatt Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project and expanded gas-fired generation, against domestic electricity demand growing at 10–15% a year.

The LNG dimension is the agreement's most commercially loaded clause. Tanzania has been working to close commercial negotiations and finalise legal issues on a US$42 billion LNG project led by Equinor and Shell in partnership with ExxonMobil, Pavilion Energy, Medco Energi and state-owned TPDC, with a signing targeted for June 2026. Bilateral cooperation with a landlocked neighbour like Rwanda on LNG distribution would expand the addressable market for that gas once production begins — a long-dated prospect, but one that gives the broader agreement strategic depth beyond near-term power trade.