local time, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council, together with Zambian President Hichilema and Tanzanian Vice President Nchinbi, attended the opening ceremony of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Activation Project in Lusaka. Dai Hegen, chairman of China Railway Construction Corporation, was invited to attend and speak.
Li Qiang said that in September last year, President Xi Jinping, together with Zambian President Hichilema and Tanzanian President Hassan, witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Activation Project in Beijing. Over the past year, the relevant departments and enterprises of China, Tanzania and Zambia have made concerted efforts and taken positive actions to promote the project to make important progress and usher in the official start of construction. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway is like a bond that connects the hearts of the Chinese and Tanzania-Zambia people. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway spirit is a precious treasure of painstaking efforts and sweat, which we need to cherish and protect together. Today, China-Africa cooperation has embarked on a new journey of pursuing the dream of modernization. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway is a landmark project of China-Africa cooperation. China is willing to work with Zambia and Tanzania to make this railway full of hope glow with new brilliance in the new era and inject more momentum into the development of Tanzania, Zambia and Africa as a whole.
Li Qiang pointed out that the Chinese government, together with the governments of Tanzania and Zambia, will provide necessary support and guarantee for railway activation. It is hoped that China, Tanzania and Zambia will adhere to high-quality and high-standard construction, build the project into a high-quality, efficient, safe and reliable quality project, and set up a benchmark for high-quality co-construction of "the Belt and Road". China is willing to assist Zambia and Tanzania in promoting the construction of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Prosperity Belt, jointly build a new economic growth hub, and cooperate to implement more "small and beautiful" projects along the line, such as medical and health care, poverty reduction and benefiting farmers, so as to better improve people's livelihood. China is also willing to work with Zambia and Tanzania to take the railway activation as an opportunity to promote the "hard connection" of railway, highway, port and other infrastructure, strengthen the "soft connection" of customs, commodity inspection, taxation and other fields, constantly improve the level of trade and investment facilitation, promote the market and industrial integration between China, Tanzania and Zambia, and between China and Africa, and pool greater development synergy. Looking ahead, China-Africa cooperation has broad prospects. China is willing to work with Zambia, Tanzania and other African countries to further carry forward the spirit of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway, implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, and promote the construction of an all-weather China-Africa destiny community in the new era.
Hichilema and Nchinbi said that the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is a monument of friendship created by the older generation of leaders of the three countries and a symbol of the times of independence, self-improvement, solidarity and mutual assistance of the people of the three countries. The revitalization of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is a symbol of the common destiny and future of the three countries, and will become a vivid practice for the Chinese and African people to inherit friendship and work together to revitalize. Zambia and Tanzania are willing to work with China to actively implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, build the railway activation project into a high-quality project to jointly promote modernization, promote regional connectivity, promote industrial upgrading, green transformation and economic development of countries along the line, serve the well-being of the people, and write a new chapter of building an all-weather China-Africa destiny community in the new era. The governments of
China, Tanzania and Zambia jointly issued the Joint Statement on Jointly Building the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Prosperity Belt. In his speech,
Dai Hegen said that on September 4, 2024, the heads of state of China, Tanzania and Zambia jointly witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the Activation Project of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway. China Railway Construction Corporation resolutely implements the important consensus reached by the heads of state of the three countries. With the strong support of the government departments of the three countries, the project franchise agreement and the government support agreement were signed in Beijing on September 29 this year. China Railway Construction Corporation will earnestly implement the speech requirements of Premier Li Qiang, President Hichilema and Vice President Nchinbi, further carry forward the spirit of Tanzania-Zambia Railway, continue the traditional friendship between China and Africa, and build a clean and high-quality project. At the same time, in line with the principle of "consultation, co-construction, sharing" and mutual benefit, we will cooperate with Tanzanian and Zambian enterprises to jointly participate in the development and construction of industrial parks, new energy, mining, agriculture, logistics and other fields along the line, and strive to build the Tanzania-Zambia Railway into a "road of freedom", "road of development", "road of friendship", "road of happiness", "road of green" and "road of harmony". The Tanzania-Zambia Railway,
completed in the 1970s, is one of China's most representative foreign aid projects. Starting from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania in the east and ending in New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia in the west, the 1860.5 km long railway has built 320 bridges and 22 tunnels, and the Chinese government has sent more than 50000 engineers and technicians. It took five years and eight months to build this "steel road" side by side with the people of Tanzania and Zambia with sweat, blood and even life, which has become an immortal monument to witness the traditional friendship between China and Africa. In recent years, with the changes in the international situation and the further improvement of Africa's development level, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is also facing the realistic needs of renewal and upgrading. The development of the region urgently needs the Tanzania-Zambia Railway to become a stable, economic and reliable logistics artery, and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Activation Project came into being. After the activation, the freight transport capacity of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is expected to increase from about 200,000 tons per year to 2.4 million tons, and the transportation time along the way will be reduced by two thirds. This will facilitate the "export of special products from villages to cities and export to the sea", release the potential of regional development, let the development dividends benefit local households, inject vitality into China-Africa cooperation, and create a model for China and Africa to build a high-quality "the Belt and Road". Zhao Dianlong, Vice President of
China Railway Construction Corporation, and responsible persons of relevant departments and units participated in the above activities.
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