China and Tanzania, during a visit by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi here Monday, pledged to consolidate the traditional friendship, integrate the development strategies and promote pragmatic cooperation between the two countries in various fields.
In a meeting with Wang, Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said Tanzania appreciates China's listing of his country as one of the four pioneers for conducting China-Africa production capacity cooperation and expects more Chinese enterprises to participate in the construction projects in the country.
Tanzania will work with China and Zambia to revitalize the Tanzania-Zambia railway so that it can play a bigger role in the development of Tanzania and Zambia as well as other countries along the railway, the prime minister said.
For his part, Wang said China always considers Tanzania as its most reliable strategic partner, adding that China has become Tanzania's largest trade partner, largest project contractor and a main source of investment.
Wang expects China and Tanzania to further enhance political mutual trust and civilian friendship, focus on win-win cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, military communication and international coordination and implement the consensuses reached at the Johannesburg summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in the greater interest of the Tanzanian people.
In a meeting with his Tanzanian counterpart, Augustine Mahiga, Wang said the Tanzania-China friendship, initiated and fostered by the older generation of leaders of the two countries, has become precious spiritual wealth of the two peoples and deserves to be inherited and carried forward.
China and Tanzania have always trusted and supported each other, Wang said, adding that the mutual political trust between the countries at such a high level has become a most valuable strategic resource for the two countries and should be further deepened.
Wang said the Tanzania-Zambia railway is a symbol of and a monument to the China-Africa cooperation and leaders of the three countries have reached consensus on upgrading the railway.
The 1,860-km railway line, built with the assistance of the Chinese government in the 1970s, runs from the Zambian town of Kapiri Mposhi to the Port of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.
China will work with Tanzania and Zambia to inject vigor and vitality into the railway through comprehensive reform of the management system, effectively linking the railway to ports and building an industrial economic belt along the railway, Wang said, adding that the revitalization of the railway will contribute to helping Tanzania, Zambia and other African countries realize independent and sustainable development.
Mahiga said the friendship with China has solid public support in Tanzania and that the Tanzanian people deeply appreciate China's long-term support and aid to their country.
Tanzania expects to broaden the areas for cooperation with China and deepen their partnership, Mahiga said, adding that his country supports the China-proposed Belt and Road Initiative and will become a bridgehead of the initiative's access to Africa.
The Belt and Road Initiative, proposed by China in 2013, aims to build a trade and infrastructure network connecting Asia with Europe and Africa along the ancient Silk Road trade routes. It has won support from over 100 countries and international organizations.
Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed developing relations with Africa with sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith and the correct viewpoint of righteousness and benefit during his visit to Africa in 2013, Wang recalled.
On China-Africa cooperation, China will continue to stick to the principle of non-interference, equality and mutual benefits, without imposing any political conditions on any African country or sacrificing the local environment, Wang said, adding that China will respect local laws and customs.
Guided by the correct viewpoint of righteousness and benefit, China will integrate its development strategies with Africa, deepen production capacity cooperation and enhance infrastructure construction to make unremitting efforts for the rejuvenation of the African continent and the common development and prosperity of China and Africa, Wang said.
