Foreign news
China, Tanzania upgrade ties to comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership
China and Tanzania have enjoyed a long-lasting friendship and comprehensive cooperation, and the development of the relations is being promoted at a higher level with Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan’s arrival in Beijing for a three-day visit.
The two countries on Thursday announced the elevation of bilateral relations to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s meeting with Hassan, the first African head of state China received after the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
A ‘true and reliable’ China-Tanzania friendship
Noting that the two countries should take the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as a guide to advance cooperation in various fields in the next stage, Xi said China will continue to import more Tanzanian products, support Chinese companies in investing and doing business in Tanzania and provide assistance for Tanzania’s economic and social development.
He said China has always viewed its relations with Tanzania from a strategic perspective and has always been a reliable friend.
The bilateral trade between China and Tanzania has developed rapidly. The trade volume reached $6.74 billion, up 47.1 percent year on year. Among them, Tanzania’s exports to China amounted to $606 million, up 47.3 percent year on year, and the growth rate was faster than the average level in Africa, according to Chinese statistics.
Hassan said Tanzania regards China as a “true and most important friend” and is willing to be a trusted partner of China forever.
She said Tanzania will continue to firmly support China on issues concerning China’s core interests, such as the issues related to Taiwan, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
The two leaders witnessed the signing of bilateral cooperation documents on trade, investment, development cooperation, digital economy and green development.
The two sides also issued a joint statement on establishing a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, covering issues such as leveraging the guiding political role of head-of-state diplomacy, elevating two-way trade, and strengthening coordination and cooperation in international affairs, among others.
Building a China-Africa community with a shared future
In 2013, during his visit to Tanzania, Xi put forth the guiding principles of China’s policy toward Africa, namely sincerity, real results, affinity and good faith, which have since become China’s basic policy on pursuing solidarity and cooperation with other developing countries.
Xi told Hassan that under the new circumstances, the sound development of China-Tanzania relations not only serves the common and long-term interests of the two countries but also is of great significance to building a China-Africa community with a shared future in the new era.
China is ready to create new opportunities for Africa with its new development, take infrastructure as the guide, strengthen cooperation in trade, investment and financing, and foster new drivers of China-Africa cooperation, he said.
Hassan said her country will join China in taking the establishment of a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership as an opportunity to strengthen practical cooperation in various fields and build bilateral relations into a model of Africa-China relations in the new era.
Highlighting the role of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) in promoting the development of African countries, she said Tanzania will continue to actively participate in and support the development of FOCAC.
FOCAC is an effective platform and multilateral mechanism for China and African countries to conduct collective consultations and carry out pragmatic cooperation.
Since the establishment of FOCAC, Chinese enterprises have built more than 10,000 kilometers of railways, nearly 100,000 kilometers of roads, nearly 1,000 bridges, nearly 100 ports and a large number of hospitals and schools in Africa, said Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania Chen Mingjian during a conference on China-Africa cooperation through FOCAC in Tanzania’s Dar es Salaam in October.
In 2021, China-Africa trade volume was $254.2 billion, and China’s stock of direct investment in Africa exceeded $56 billion, 25 times and 100 times that of 2000, when the forum was established, respectively, according to the Chinese envoy
Foreign news
Nigerians lament over exorbitant UK visa application fees
Nigerians on Thursday expressed concern over the exorbitant charges for various UK visa application fees, calling on the Foreign Affairs Minister to look into that area.
This complaint was done in a vox-pop interviews by different UK applicants in the country.
Some of them, however, complained about not getting the value for money spent, and the service delivery is also not efficient.
Speaking on the matter, Mr. Ajayi Okon said that he feels they are beginning to make so much money out of Nigerians because most Nigerians love to go there based on proximity.
“I think it is high time the government intervenes; at times it looks like extortion to me. You will pay a priority visa, which is over a million naira, to get a response within 2 days.
“The next thing, you will get an email telling you because of high demand, it will take another 15 days, so what is the essence of the priority paid for?
“ If you are collecting money for a particular service, you should have factored in how you want to deliver efficient service.
However, Mrs. Sarah Mbah said that on the application portal, the self-service option, which is cheaper, is not accessible easily.
According to her, after paying so much on visa fees, you will still be denied without an option of appeal despite the money spent.
“I think the government needs to pay attention, especially in those areas of visa application to other countries.
“The fees are getting too high, and the service delivery is also not satisfactory. Nigerians will outright be denied without any right to appeal after paying so much.
“ I feel is not right; some cases should be allowed to appeal, especially looking at the resources involved, so people won’t feel cheated,“ she added.
Furthermore, Favor Adamu said that the perception is usually that it is people who have the resources that apply for UK visas, but the truth is, people save up for those fees.
She said that because of the high rate of migration, they usually suspect that everyone coming to their country won’t want to return, and based on that, they use that to denial people.
Adamu said based on this, the fees should not be too much, so such a person won’t feel cheated because they cannot even appeal the decision.
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