Tanzania: Model for strengthening China-Africa relations

TANZANIA: IT will be recalled that earlier this month, upon the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President Dr Samia Suluhu Hassan visited China and attended the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

The two leaders held a separate bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the FOCAC Summit; a critical outcome of those talks was a renewed commitment to take practical steps in enhancing the Tanzania-China relations.

Shedding light on that the Minister for Constitution and Legal Affairs, Prof  Palamagamba Kabudi during the occasion to celebrate 75th Anniversary of the Founding People’s of China that was hosted by Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Tanzania Chen Mingjian in Dar es Salaam, recently narrated the long-standing diplomatic relations, a rock-solid political trust and solidarity built by our founding fathers, the Late President Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere and Chairman Mao Zedong over the past 60 years.

Ever since, our growing ties and friendship has been all round and all-weather culminating in the successive leaders of our two nations exchanging both working and State visits with a view to strengthening further bilateral relations between our two countries and enhance people to people exchange.

In particular, he pointed out how this year Tanzania and China also celebrate the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, saying: “Before I proceed, I bring with me greetings from President Samia Suluhu Hassan to His Excellency Xi Jinping, President of the People’s Republic of China for commemorating this auspicious occasion in the history of the People’s Republic of China.”

He added: “As we celebrate the 75th Anniversary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China, we are inspired by the modernisation of China and significant transformations in global history.

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949, the country has undergone profound economic, social and political changes, moving from an agrarian society to one of the world’s leading industrial and technological powers.

Over the past 75 years China has made tremendous achievements in Economic Growth; Poverty Reduction; Urbanisation and Infrastructure as well as Space and Science.

In specific he highlighted that in the forum Tanzania was pronounced by China that it considers relations between the two to be a demonstration model for South-South cooperation and instrumental in guiding the overall China-Africa relations.

Today, Tanzania and China continue to work hand in glove to ensure smooth cooperation on issues of mutual interest. Our two countries have a shared desire to deepen economic, political, cultural and social engagement that started 60 years ago.

Currently, China tops the list of trading partners of Tanzania for seven consecutive years with bilateral trade volume of USD 8.8 billion compared to US Dollar 8.3 billion in 2022 – about five per cent increase in just one year.

Further to that, China is also leading in source of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in Tanzania. For instance, from January 2021 to June 2024, the Tanzania Investment Centre (TIC) registered 1,360 projects with an investment capital of about US Dollar 11.5 million; and expected to create more than one hundred fifty-five thousand jobs (155,000). These projects are in manufacturing, commercial facilities, agriculture, transportation and services.

In that regard, Tanzania welcomes the ten (10) points for cooperation between China and Africa which were announced by President Xi Jinping. We welcome in particular the decision to revitalise TAZARA – the freedom railway that is a symbol for solidarity and friendship between Tanzania and China and crucial significance to boost regional trade between neighbouring land locked states.

ALSO READ: Why Chinese Embassy is behind FOCAC resolutions implementation

Further achievement during the FOCAC 2024 Summit was the decision to extend Duty Free Treatment to products from developing countries including Tanzania corresponding to 100 per cent of the tariff lines that enter the Chinese market.

These indeed are the surest ways to put action to the intent to have win – win relations, based on the principles of sincerity, amity, real results and good faith – introduced by President Xi Jinping which form the bedrock of the Tanzania-China relations.

I therefore, take this opportunity to reiterate the Government of Tanzania’s commitment to continue strengthening relations with China in all aspects and support China on various issues of common interest at bilateral and multilateral levels so as to build a community with a shared future for mankind.

In July this year, the Naval Peace Ark Hospital Ship of the People’s Liberation Army Navy of China docked in Dar es Salaam for its mission harmony and friendship in collaboration with Tanzania Peoples Defence Force (TPDF) to commemorate 60 years of diplomatic relations. Since its inaugural mission in 2010, the Naval Peace Ark has visited Tanzania 3 times (2017, 2020 and 2024). During the stay in Dar es Salaam, the ship performed free medical services and check up to approximately 8,000 people.

China has continued to dispatch its medical teams to Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. Since the program started in the late 1960s to date, more than two thousand Chinese medical personnel have been dispatched serving Tanzania’s in various areas.

It should be also noted that during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2019, China was quick to offer COVID-19 vaccines to Tanzania which helped in our efforts to contain the spread of the virus.

Similarly on trade, Tanzania and China have signed various agreements that create market access to Tanzania’s products in the Chinese market. These include among others, agreements for exporting honey, sunflower seed cakes and dried chilies.

In addition, Tanzania takes pride in the fact that currently various agricultural products including dry cassava, soybeans, fish maws, seafood products are now being sold to the Chinese market.

On her part, the ambassador said that China is the largest trading partner and source country of investment of Tanzania.

Reflecting the FOCAC meeting, she pointed out that President Samia delivered remarks on behalf of the East Africa at the opening ceremony, where the (President Samia) and President Xi Jinping agreed to elevate the common values and leading role of our bilateral relations.

She added: “Chinese, Tanzanian and Zambian presidents jointly witnessed the signing of MoU on the revitalisation of the TAZARA railway, which became one of the highlights of the Summit. China and Tanzania signed a number of bilateral cooperation documents in the fields of connectivity, agricultural product, trade among others.”

During the occasion, President Samia held talks with a number of major Chinese enterprises and investors had expressed their interests in various fields, noting: “I believe and hope that China and Tanzania will conduct closer cooperation under the ten partnership actions.

In terms of people-to-people exchange, this year marks China-Tanzania Tourism and Culture Year. The beautiful scenery of Mount Kilimanjaro, Serengeti and Zanzibar have attracted more and more Chinese visitors to Tanzania, surpassing 44, 000 people last year. I believe this figure will increase further this year.”

It is worth mentioning that, a Chinese TV series, ‘Welcome to Milele’ recorded mainly in Tanzania, has been aired via Azam TV. This TV show featured by Chinese Medical Team to Africa tells the story of the long-standing China-Tanzania friendship that surmounts mountains and oceans, arousing public interests of Tanzanian friends.

As Tanzania’s largest source of investment, China’s investment in Tanzania has yielded remarkable results, not only to the extent of creating a large number of job opportunities, but also greatly promoting the construction of major infrastructure in Tanzania. A series of landmark projects, including the Magufuli Bridge, the SGR and the Julius Nyerere Hydropower Plant, are the vivid practices of China building a China-Tanzania community with a shared future.

In term of bilateral political relations, Tanzania is China’s long-standing friend and the place where China’s Africa policy – sincerity, real results, amity and good faith – was first proposed in the new era.

At present, China’s economy has seen a significant development: More than half of the global renewable power generation capacity comes from China, ranking first in the world for many years in a row and making positive contributions to the global green economy transition and global response to climate change.

Digital economy including AI, cloud-computing and 5G has become a new fashion, ranking second in the world. China also ranks first in terms of e-commerce and mobile payment transactions in the world.

China has made significant progress in technological innovation. From Chang’e lunar mission to BeiDou Navigation Satellite System and to China’s deep-sea manned submersible “Striver” setting a national diving record, are all results of China’s significant advancement in science and technology, making China the only middle-income economy top 30 in the Global Innovation Index.