By Mr. Fu Jijun, Deputy Head and Political Counselor of Chinese Embassy to Tanzania
on 20th October, 2009
Thank you Mr. Chairman for your kindly introduction,
Honorable Prof. Peter Msolla, Minister of Communication, Science and Technologies,
Honorable Deputy Minster Dr. Maua Daftari,
Respected Mr. Chen Junhua, Deputy CEO for Huawei Sub-Sahara Africa,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen:
Good Evening!
It is a great pleasure for me and my colleagues to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Core Network Live Tour of Huawei Technologies in Tanzania. Please allow me to express my heartfelt thanks to Mr. Evan Chou, CEO Huawei Tanzania Office, for his kindly invitation. I would also like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in Tanzania, to extend warm congratulation for the opening of the Tour.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Communication industry has been playing a more and more important role, in the economic and social development of the world. As a rapidly changing industrial sector, it is not only contributing a big share of the GDP of one country, but also facilitating the development of all fields of the economy and the people's living standard.
We are gladly to note that Tanzanian government attaches great importance to the development of its communication industry. I myself has witnessed the quickly growth of Tanzanian telecommunication sector. When I was here ten years ago, there was only one mobile telephone operator in Tanzania and its service was very expensive. Now there are 7 operators doing mobile and internet service in Tanzania. The number is even higher than China's three. More than 10 million subscribers of Tanzania including I myself have benefited a lot from their service.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
We are proud that Chinese government and companies including Huawei Technologies have been helping Tanzanian to improve its communication service. Huawei is a leading global telecommunications solutions provider. Its huge investment in human resources and R&D capacity, enable it to react swiftly and effectively to meet the customers' needs. As I know, Huawei has been paying great attention to Tanzania market. It is always using its most advanced technologies, equipment and materials to serve its partners with long-term vision. Some technologies and materials using in Tanzania by Huawei are even not widely used in China.
As an all-weather friend of Tanzania, Chinese government is also keen to help Tanzania to develop its communication industry. It has agreed to provider $70 million soft loan to Tanzania for building the first phase work of the ICT Fiber Backbone Project. Nowadays, the China International Telecommunication Construction Corporation (CITCC) is working hard to construct the first phase of the project in partnership of Huawei Technologies. I strongly believe that the completion of this project will greatly push Tanzanian communication industry forward a big step. Both sides of China and Tanzania attach great importance to its early completion. China's EXIM bank is positively considering to provider another $100 million for the second phase work of the ICT project. I sincerely hope the work of CITCC and Huawei will continuously get the kindly support from the related Tanzanian Authorities.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf the Chinese Embassy, to express our highly appreciation to Minster Msolla, for his personal contribution to the mutual beneficial cooperation between China and Tanzania in the communication industry and the other fields. I would also like to assure you that the Embassy will continue to do its best for furthering the friendship between China and Tanzania.
Finally, I wish the Huawei Technologies Core Network Live Tour in Tanzania a great success!
Thank you for your attention!
