http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/11/content_10802400.htm
DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- The phrase "a friend in need is a
friend indeed" is a handy portrait of the relationship between China
and Tanzania during the past half century, says the Chinese ambassador
to the African nation.
China was among the first few countries to recognize the
independence of Tanganyika in 1961 and Tanzania was among the African
countries that made efforts to help return China to the United Nations
in 1972, Ambassador Liu Xinsheng said during a lunar New Year
celebration with overseas Chinese.
Though China was a long way from welfare itself in the 1960s, it
did not hesitate to send doctors and nurses to help with the medical
development of the African country. The help first began in the Indian
Ocean archipelago of Zanzibar in 1964 and then in the Tanzania
mainland starting in 1968, Liu said.
He added that experts on agriculture, construction and mineral
also came to the assistance of their Tanzanian counterparts in their
respective fields.
Later, tens of thousands of railway workers came to build the
1,860-kilometer Tanzania-Zambia Railway, better known in East Africa
as the TAZARA, he said.
Bilateral trade has grown more than 10 fold since the turn of this
century, increasing from 93.44 million U.S. dollars in 2001 to over
900 million dollars last year, bringing Tanzania up to 15th among the
60 African economies that trade with China.
Apart from debt write-off programs that have benefited Tanzania,
China also continues with aid projects in the country, where a
landmark building has been already completed, and another is not far
away.
A 60,000-seat new national stadium is hailed as the most modern
sports facility of its kind in East Africa.
China will build an international conference center in the capital
of Dar es Salaam for conventions and tourism development.
In addition, China has completed a drinking water network in
central Tanzania and is training local staff to operate it.
There is lots to do this year to further promote a friendly China-
Tanzania relationship, boost economic cooperation and bilateral trade,
as well as benefit the Chinese who work and do businesses in Tanzania,
the ambassador said.
The Tanzanian people take the Chinese as friends and China will
always do the same, he added.
Chinese President Hu Jintao will pay state visits to Saudi Arabia,
Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Mauritius from Feb. 10 to 17.
Hu's visit is aimed at further consolidating China's friendship
and cooperation with the countries, strengthening China's cooperation
with the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, and
promoting the implementation of the measures announced at the Beijing
Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Chinese Foreign
Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.
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