Hu's visit further enhances economic ties with Tanzania
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-02/11/content_10800445.htm
DAR ES SALAAM, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- Chinese President Hu Jintao's
upcoming visit to Tanzania will further enhance bilateral economic
cooperation and help both countries tide over global financial crisis,
said a senior Tanzanian investment official in a recent interview with
Xinhua.
Emmanuel Ole Naiko, executive director of Tanzania's Investment
Center, said Tanzania and China will not only overcome the
international financial crisis through cooperation of mutual benefit,
but also deepen long-standing friendship between the two countries.
Hu's visit will testify to China's pledge to forge ahead with its
strategic partnership with Africa and African countries, he said.
Trade and investment from Asian countries with their African
counterparts, including Tanzania, have seen a continuous increase over
the past few years, particularly since the 2006 China-Africa Summit
held in Beijing, Ole Naiko added. .
Trade volumes between China and Africa reached over 100 billion
U.S. dollars last year, up from 20 billion dollars in 2002, he noted.
The investment chief also brushed aside allegations that China was
just chasing after Africa's natural resources, citing examples of
China's investment and assistance in many other fields such as
agriculture, tourism, infrastructure and mineral industry.
He said the allegation is "not true," recalling the Tanzania-
Zambia Railway line and the China-Tanzania Friendship Textile Mill,
both built in the 1960s with Chinese aid.
Ole Naiko said he is looking forward to more Chinese investment in
the form of technology, expertise and finance transfers in
agriculture, tourism and infrastructure.
"Agriculture and agro-industry are important to food security," he
said. "We need to produce more grain crops and cash crops such as tea,
cotton and coffee."
"This kind of industry will put added-value to our export-oriented
cash crops. We hope China could further assist us in such areas," he
added.
Food accounts for about 55.9 percent in the basket of commodity
items which are put together for the calculation of Tanzania's
inflation rate through a national consumer prices index.
An 18.6-percent food inflation pushed up the country's inflation
to 13.5 percent last December.
Likewise, tourism industry also needs special investment from
China, Ole Naiko said, adding tourism has played an increasingly
important role in Tanzania's economic growth over the past three
years.
"Tanzania has lots of natural beauties needed to be diversified so
as to draw more tourists," he said. "We need more star-rated hotels in
sightseeing areas and we plan to promote tourism in big cities."
Mining industries also expect Chinese investment, including
petroleum and gas exploitation, the investment chief said, adding "If
somebody helps you to develop natural resources, then what's wrong
with it?"
As an investment promoter and a policy advocate in Tanzania, his
center will work hard to improve the investment environment to attract
more investors from home and abroad, he said.
Hu arrived in Saudi Arabia Tuesday for a five-nation tour. The
week-long trip will also take him to Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and
Mauritius.
The visit is aimed to further consolidate China's friendship and
cooperation with these countries, enhance 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, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang
Yu has said.
On Feb 11, 7:31 pm, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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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