Foreign news

China, Tanzania upgrade ties to comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership

Published

2 years ago

November 5, 2022

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

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Foreign news

French Envoy Seeks Collaboration With NAN To Boost Seamless Relationship

Published

1 month ago

February 5, 2025

The Gleamer

The new French envoy to Nigeria, Marc Fonbaustier, on Wednesday called for collaboration with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) toward strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship between the two countries.

Fonbaustier, who is the French ambassador to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, made the call when he paid a courtesy visit to Malam Ali Muhammad Ali, NAN’s Managing Director, in Abuja.
The ambassador said that his purpose of visiting was to pay tribute to the MD, and to seek collaboration in three areas with a view to promoting stronger, seamless and fruitful partnership between both countries.

He added that Nigeria and its people were hospitable, especially to the foreigners and ambassadors alike.

He added that Nigeria was a country with so much energy, strength, stamina and so many talents.

In Nigeria, with the population of this size, it is inevitable that the elites of the country are very outstanding, “and there may be a Franco/Nigeria moments now”, he jokes.

According to him, France and Nigeria can collaborate more and learn from each other.
“I could feel it particularly during the state visit of President Bola Tinubu which took place in November 2024.

“I was there and I could see the intensity, the strength and the scope of the partnership, and I am here to scale up that partnership in all sectors.

“I am coming here for three reasons, first, to pay a tribute to the NAN MD and his team for the quality of this agency. We can testify that the contents that you publish are very factual, and also very well set up and structured.

“You do fact checking and you really do try to provide the community with quality information. I think, as a French ambassador, I can recognise that as part of a living democracy,” he said.

The French ambassador said the second reason for the visit was to intimate the NAN MD of France’s eagerness to go on partnership with NAN saying he hoped for assurance of a seamless, fluid and easy relationship.

He said that his third reason stemmed from his observation that NAN recently signed some partnership framework agreements with Egypt and China, saying “it may be time to think of balancing this partnership with others”.

“Especially with French, and to talk with Agence France-Presse (AFP) to see if there’s ground for a closer relationship between NAN and AFP.

“Which is also a recognised agency like yours, and I bet you the sky will be the limit to the collaboration, ’’he said.

Responding, the NAN MD informed the envoy that the agency was African’s biggest news content provider on account of its size.

Ali gave the envoy a little details of the agency’s operation and its outreach, saying “as our continent’s biggest news content provider, we have offices nationwide and in selected African countries.

“We have offices in countries such as South Africa, Cote d’ivoire, Addis Ababa, and then we have offices also beyond the shores of Africa. We have in New York and we are the only resident wire service in the United Nations.

“At a time in the past, the agency had 11 foreign offices, including Moscow, and presently, we are trying to re-open some of our shut offices, especially in London.
“We value partnership and understanding that we have with similar news organisation such as Reuters and, incidentally, we have a long standing relationship with AFP which you just raised.
“I know for years we have exchange of news between NAN and AFP but it’s a cooperation that we will like to strengthen and with your greater involvement,’’ he said.

The MD commended the ambassador for reaching out and engaging with some Nigerians communities to douse the tension of the allegation made by the Nigeriens.

He also lauded the envoy’s leadership and visibility to Nigeria and the ECOWAS, “which has helped to douse the perception and misconceptions about France, especially in the Sahel”.
“I think you have helped to reverse some of this perceptions. I thank you for the kind words that you said about the agency and about our management.

“We also see partnership as an important tool in checking the spread of fake news.
“We’ve seen instances where fake news has done great deal of damage, and with the coming of social media it has done even greater damage.

“Our country is facing a lot of challenges, one of which is the increasing insecurity, and the social media has been used by those who do not want to see our country to prosper,” Ali said.
He further said that NAN was a credible news agency that always fact check to correct the wrong narratives by those who are in the business of causing troubles.

He also told the envoy that the agency has its content in the Nigerian indigenous languages, starting with Hausa and it would proceed to Yoruba and Igbo languages later, “then later in future to French.

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