Tightening Ties

　　Tanzanian friendship. What your opinion on thedevelopment of the bilateral relations now？

　　Abdulrahaman A. Shimbo： Yes indeed， the anzania-Zambia Railway，？famously known as the TAZARA ， is the mosticonic symbol of our two countries？unwavering and closebrotherly relations. It is truly a remarkable example of Chinaselfless act toward its friends， at a time when China itself hadfewer economic， technological and military capacities. TheTAZARA that was completed in the early 1970s served as alifeline to transport goods to Zambia and other Southern Africanstates， and take their exports to foreign countries duringSouthern Africa liberation struggle and beyond.

　　Right now， the focus is more on the win-win situation，whereby the two sides engage more on investment andtrade activities and education pursuits for our youth. Theimpact of this new trend of cooperation is immense and feltin our country economic growth， boasting billions of U.S.dollars in earnings that contribute to improving the peoplequality of life of both countries.

　　Tanzania was the first African country Xi Jinping visitedafter he was elected Chinese president. In hisvisit， he focused more on cultural exchanges. Howdo you see this between our two countries？

　　President Xi Jinping visit to Tanzania is indeed very specialand a loud political statement to the world that no matterwhat status China has gained economically at the moment， ithas never forgotten its closest friends. Many important issuesof mutual benefit to our two sides were concluded during thisparticular visit and on the cultural issue， I think the followingcould boost our cooperation：

　　？Exchange programs of athletes in terms of training andcoaching；？Increased assistance to scholars who wish to learn theChinese language and Kiswahili；？Exchange visits between our traditional dancers andacrobats； and？Increased awareness of the importance of cultural tourismon both sides.

　　Tanzania suffers greatly from elephant poaching.

　　Recently， China and other countries launched OperationCobra II to crack down on wildlife poachingand smuggling. How do you see the two countriescooperating in protecting wildlife？

　　This has indeed been our major struggle in conserving ourwildlife for a long time. We thank China for being vigilant andlaunching stern measures to fight and frustrate the marketfor ivory and other related products in its sovereign boundaries.

　　This fight needs concerted efforts from the internationalcommunity. We strongly believe that as a united front， we canovercome the poaching syndicates， starting with decisiveattacks against poachers at the wildlife homesteads， movingon to transporting companies and finally to the buyers. If buyingstops， the killing can stop too. So， Operation Cobra II wasreally a bright ray of hope for our country internal measuresagainst poachers， that has made it clear to all illegal traders inthis terrible business that China is not the place to profit fromthese dirty deals.

　　We have agreed to set up a joint working group betweenour two sides？responsible organs， mandated to combat thisillicit trade， basically comprising personnel from Ministries ofPublic Security and Anti-Corruption Bureaus to exchangeintelligence and work together to formulate tactics designedto clear up this filthy business.

　　Cross-border infrastructure is very important inAfrican integration， and China is a veteran in infrastructureconstruction. What are your thoughts onChina role in terms of promoting African integration？

　　Easing the movement of people and goods is one of the basicingredients for any integration to prosper. African integrationis not exempted from this fact and as a result， all the keyplayers have always strived to improve infrastructure cruciallyneeded in keeping integration progressing. Thanks to Chinafinance facilitating policies， African infrastructure is booming.

　　Many Chinese companies are investing right now in Africancountries through bilateral arrangements as well as throughagreements on regional blocs.

　　We have plans underway to join Uganda and Kenya-Rwanda to Burundi by railway line in the East Africa Community(EAC). We also have plans to join the TAZARA withanother railway line to the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

　　We believe in the impressive standards of Chinese technologyin roads， railway and ICT (information communicationtechnology) facilities construction. And China is performingwonders already， so no doubt we will both emerge as winnersin this endeavor.

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