I am very glad to attend today’s special event “China-Africa Vision: Towards a Sustainable Future”. First of all, on behalf of the Chinese Embassy in Tanzania, I would like to extend a warm welcome to all the guests attending today’s event, and express my heartfelt gratitude to the staff who have made great efforts in organizing this event.
From 22nd to 24th August, the 15th BRICS Summit was held in South Africa. At the invitation of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, President Xi Jinping attended the Summit and presided over the China-Africa Leaders’ Dialogue, in which he once again got together with African leaders to discuss the development of China-Africa relations. President Xi Jinping once again met with President Samia Suluhu Hassan yesterday since last November. In this context, it is timely for us to hold today’s dialogue to exchange ideas and unite efforts in implementing the important consensus reached by Chinese and African leaders.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative proposed by President Xi Jinping. In 2013, President Xi Jinping, with insight into the historical trend, put forward the Belt and Road Initiative, which aimed at promoting policy coordination, facilities connectivity, unimpeded trade, financial integration, and people-to-people bonds among all countries in the world. During the past ten years, the BRI has changed from idea to practice, from blueprint to reality, which has opened up a new direction for international cooperation and exchange, and provided new impetus to the common development of the world. The BRI has become a high-quality public good initiated by China, jointly built by all parties, and shared globally. It serves as an important platform to build a community with a shared future for mankind.
Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has built a solid platform for international cooperation. China has signed more than 200 cooperation documents with three quarters of countries in the world and more than 30 international organizations concerning the Belt and Road, forming an important support and close network for international development. Under this strategic framework, all parties have jointly established over 20 cooperation platforms in fields of infrastructure, green development, digital economy, etc. and jointly established support mechanisms such as Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, BRICS New Development Bank and Silk Road Fund. In the past ten years, Belt and Road Cooperation has attracted nearly one trillion US dollars of investment worldwide, established more than 3,000 cooperation projects, created 420,000 jobs for the countries in cooperation, and lifted nearly 40 million people out of poverty. Authoritative institutions such as the World Bank and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) have issued reports with a series of solid figures and cases to illustrate that the Belt and Road Initiative has effectively promoted world trade, investment and economic growth, boosted global industrialization, innovation and inclusive development, and made great contributions to accelerating the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda.
Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has brought important opportunities for African development. Up to now, 52 African countries and the African Union Commission have signed Belt and Road cooperation documents with China. In 2022, the trade volume between China and Africa was US$ 282 billion, accounting for 20% of Africa's total foreign trade. China has been Africa's largest trading partner for 14 consecutive years. In 2022, the stock of China's direct investment in Africa exceeded US$ 47 billion, almost double that of 2013. Since 2000, China has built more than 6,000 kilometers of railway and highway respectively in Africa, and built nearly 20 ports and more than 80 large-scale power facilities. A large number of the Belt and Road Initiative flagship projects have been completed and put into use in Africa, which have played an important role in Africa's industrialization and economic transformation. With the support and inspiration of the Belt and Road Initiative, China-Africa cooperation in culture, education, health, media, think tanks, youth and women issues has been expanding day by day, bringing tangible development dividends to Chinese and African people.
Over the past decade, the Belt and Road Initiative has built a new bridge for China-Tanzania friendship. The strategic docking between the two sides has been "deeper". In November 2022, President Xi Jinping and President Hassan held a historic meeting in Beijing, steering the pilot for deepening bilateral relations and pragmatic cooperation. The ties of cooperation between China and Tanzania have become "tighter". In 2022, the bilateral trade volume between China and Tanzania reached US$ 8.31 billion, 3.5 times that of a decade ago, and a number of Tanzanian agricultural produces such as soybeans and avocados were exported to China. In 2022, China remained the largest source country of investment in Tanzania, with the volume of direct investment 2.5 times that of a decade ago. A series of strategic projects such as the Fifth and Sixth Bid Sections of the Central Standard Gauge Railway, Nyerere Hydropower Station, East African crude oil pipeline and national ICT backbone network contracted by Chinese-funded enterprises have laid a solid foundation for Tanzania's economic and social development and regional interconnection. Investment projects such as Marvini Cement, Saaphaire Float Glass and East Africa Business Logistics Center have helped Tanzania accelerate its industrialization. The people's hearts and minds of China and Tanzania have been “closer”. China has provided Tanzania with more than 2,000 scholarships and thousands of vocational and technical training places. The cooperation between China and Tanzania in education, culture, health and tourism has flourished, and the people of the two countries have been getting to know each other deeply. The library of University of Dar es Salaam, where we are now, is a landmark project aided by China in the area of education, and it is also a concentrated expression of China and Tanzania working together to promote exchanges among the young.
As China's ambassador to Tanzania, I have witnessed the flourishing cooperation between China and Tanzania under the Belt and Road Initiative. Tanzanian enterprise representatives told me that the Belt and Road cooperation has brought many business opportunities. The Tanzanian young people expressed their gratitude to me, saying that the education and training opportunities provided by China enabled them to realize their value and to serve the country with what they had learned, and the jobs provided by enterprises of China enabled them to gain income and master skills at the same time. I am also glad to hear that a young Tanzanian studying in China has gathered several like-minded friends from countries along the Belt and Road to form a band called “Belt and Road”, which has a large number of fans on social media in China. The voices of all walks of life in Tanzania show that the Belt and Road Initiative is a popular initiative that really promotes development, benefits people's livelihood, and has broad influence and far-reaching appeal.
Ladies and gentlemen, dear friends,
Later this year, China will host the third Belt and Road Summit Forum for International Cooperation, and will join hands with the international community to sum up achievements and plot out the future, continue to promote the high-quality Belt and Road cooperation, and spread this road of happiness that benefits the world even wider and farther. It is believed that China, Tanzania and all other African countries will take this opportunity to jointly push forward the high-quality building of Belt and Road in a thorough and pragmatic way, while creating more benefits for all the people.