Tanzania celebrates 50 year link with China

SOLIDARITY: When President Julius Nyerere hosted Zhou Enlai’s in 1965 it was considered a historic chapter of China-Tanzania friendship.

By Timothy Kitundu
Monday, June 15, 2015

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DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania – The government has praised the 50 years of partnership established in 1965 with the People’s Republic of China that was instigated by the late Zhou Enlai (the first Chinese premier) and Julius Nyerere.

Abdallah Kigoda, Tanzania’s Minister for Industry and Trade was last speaking at the commemoration ceremony of the 50th anniversary of the official visit of Premier Zhou Enlai.

“In 1961, China – Tanzania development level was almost the same, but 50 years later, China has been the largest manufacturer and this is a lesson for Tanzania to struggle so that it also strives ahead in industrialization,” Kigoda said.

The event was organized jointly by the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and Tanzania’s Ministry of Foreign affairs and International Cooperation.

Kigoda said that even after the passing away of the founders of the cooperation, the current generation is still cherishing the cooperation of the two states and was optimistic that would be able to share with Tanzania the endeavours of industrialization, trade, packaging and the manufacturing sectors.

He said the focus for Tanzania to become a middle-income country centres on being an industrial country in the next five years.

He said Tanzania is ready to work with the Chinese mutually to create a better relationship and improve lives for the people of Tanzania.

Dr. Lu Youqing, the Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, said currently, Tanzania-China cooperation in all fields have kept growing hence the two countries enjoyed frequent high level exchanges, fruitful cooperation outcome and continually strengthened people-to-people exchanges.

“China has become the second largest foreign investor of Tanzania with the total investment of up to $ 4 billion (Tsh.7.2 trillion) by the end of 2014 whereby China is also the largest trading partner of Tanzania with a total trade volume of over $4.3 billion (Tsh.7.74 trillion).

He said China also provided Tanzania concessional loan of more than $ 2 billion (Tsh.3.6 trillion) to implement urgent development projects including giant infrastructure that are closely related to people’s livelihood.

Adding that Chinese investments and trade have reached every economic sector and all aspects of people’s lives in Tanzania and gained wide applauds from both Tanzania government and its people.

Miao Wei, Chinese Minister of Industry and Information Technology said Premier Zhou Enlai’s visit to Tanzania in 1965 marked an historic chapter of Tanzania-China friendship.

“This visit laid a solid foundation for China-Tanzania being all-weather good friends and good partners,” Miao said. He attended the ceremony on behalf of the Chinese government.

“China - Tanzania relationship is gaining new momentum with the passage of time. Now the time has arrived for the two countries to engage in all-around cooperation and speed up the process of industrialization,” he said.

For the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Zhou Enlai’s visit to Tanzania, a Xinhua Gallery photo exhibition opened on Saturday in Dar es Salaam with rare historic photos of Zhou’s visit in 1965 being on show to the public.

On 4th June 1965, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai paid an official visit to Tanzania at the invitation of Tanzanian President Julius Nyerere. The high level visit strengthened bilateral relations between China and Tanzania, setting the foundation for what has become an exemplary bilateral relationship between the two countries.

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