H.E. Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete,
President of the United Republic of Tanzania gives his remarks at the Mwalimu
Nyerere International Convention Centre earlier yesterday, during the two-day
Official State Visit of H.E. Xi Jinping, President of the People's Republic of
China. (Photo by Tagie Daisy Mwakawago)
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WELCOMING
REMARKS BY H.E. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF
TANZANIA, AT THE OFFICIAL INAUGURATION OF THE MWALIMU NYERERE CONVENTION
CENTRE, DAR ES SALAAM, 25 MARCH, 2013
Your
Excellency, Comrade President Xi Jinping and Madam Peng Liyuan;
Excellencies;
Distinguished
Guests;
Ladies
and Gentlemen;
Once again I heartily welcome you, and
First Lady Madam Peng Liyuan, to Tanzania.
Congratulations on your well deserved election to the highest offices of
your great Country: Secretary General of the Communist Party of China and most
recently President of the Peoples Republic of China. We are very pleased and,
in fact humbled that you included Tanzania in your first visit to Africa since
you assumed the Presidency in your great country. We in Africa highly
appreciate this gesture of friendship and solidarity that in your first foreign
trip, Africa is in your itinerary. And, more importantly we are anxious and
excited that you will seize the opportunity of your visit to Tanzania to speak
about China-Africa relations.
Mr.
President;
Your visit to Tanzania will further consolidate
and advance the long-standing friendship and cooperation between Tanzania and
China, built on a very solid foundation by the founding fathers of our two
nations, (who unfortunately all are late) President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere on the
Tanzanian side, Chairman Mao Zedong and Premier Chou en Lai on the Chinese
side. The relationship we are witnessing today was further nurtured,
consolidated and advanced by the successive generations of leaders in our
respective countries. Fortunately for Tanzania two of my Predecessors, His
Excellency Ali Hassan Mwinyi, the Second President and His Excellency Benjamin
Mkapa the Third President are here with us.
Sino -Tanzania relationship has
endured a lot and withstood the test of time. It is the steadfastness of our
leaders and peoples of our two countries which sustained it and enabled it to
grow from strength to strength. Now, we
have become all weather friends. The
words of Mwalimu Julius Kambarage Nyerere in a speech, delivered at the Peking Square in Beijing, during his state
visit to China in February 1965 attests to underline this fact:
He said: “We
shall see for ourselves what are China's intentions towards us. We shall not be
told by others........the fears of others will not affect Tanzania's friendship
with China, any more than our friendship with other countries would be affected
by what their opponents say of them".
Mr.
President;
Ladies
and Gentlemen;
When President Julius Nyerere
established diplomatic relations with China in 1964, visited China in February,
1965, Premier Chou En Lai visited Tanzania in June 1965 and Tanzania supported
China to take her rightful seat at the United Nations, it was at the height and
intense heat of the cold war. Today,
forty eight years later the fear of China by others still remains, despite the
cold war having ended. Those words of
wisdom by the founding father of our nation still resonate in my mind and the minds
of all of us in government. They informed and guided Tanzania’s - China policy for the past five decades. The
fact of the matter is that “we will always be guided by our own judgment based
on Tanzania’s best interests”. I say
this to assure you that Tanzania will continue to work closely with China at
bilateral and multilateral settings in pursuit of national and global
development goals of mutual interest.
Mr.
President;
Next year our two countries will be
celebrating 50 years of the establishment of our diplomatic relations,
friendship and cooperation. Our
relationship is excellent and China and Tanzania see eye to eye on many bilateral,
regional and global issues. Trade and
investments have been increasing. Tanzania
has received invaluable support and assistance in our development endeavours as
it has been the case with many African countries. These have made a huge difference in the
livelihood of our nations and peoples.
We will always be grateful and pray for continued support and assistance
both at bilateral level and under FOCAC, which has proved to be a very useful
initiative to support Africa’s development. In this regard we look forward to expansion
of areas of cooperation and resource.
Your
Excellency;
Ladies
and Gentlemen;
We are gathered here this morning for
official handover and inauguration of the Julius Nyerere Convention Centre
built by the support and assistance from the Government and people of
China. This is another important
milestone in the cooperation and solidarity between our two nations and peoples. Indeed, it is quite befitting that this
monumental building bears the name of the founding father of the Tanzanian
nation and of China-Afri-Tanzania relationship.
We could not have chosen a better name.
The Convention Centre joins the long list of other
symbols of Sino-Tanzania friendship and cooperation. These include, among others, the Tanzania-Zambia
Railway, Urafiki Textiles Mills, the National Stadium and several others which
for brevity of time I will not mention all of them.
The Julius Nyerere Convention Centre
will provide another modern conference facility for Tanzania and will be the
first of its kind in Dar es Salaam. It will now be easy for Dar es Salaam to host
local and international conferences which require facilities like the ones
available at this Convention Centre. I am sure it will also be a source of
promoting conference tourism for the City of Dar es Salaam.
Allow me, at this juncture to acknowledge
and pay homage to your predecessor, His Excellency President Hu Jintao, for
accepting my request and making it possible for this magnificent Julius Nyerere
Convention Centre to be built. The people of Tanzania will forever cherish this
symbol of true friendship.
Your
Excellency;
Before I conclude let me express my
profound gratitude to the China’s policy towards Africa. It has worked well and
we have no doubt that the people of China will continue to walk with the people
of Africa. So far China has been a
dependable supporter and ally of African countries and other Third World
countries, in their quest for support in their development efforts and plea for
a just and equitable world economic order. We are eagerly waiting to hear from
you on the policy of your administration towards Africa. It is now my singular
honour and pleasure to welcome you to address this audience.
Long live China-Tanzania friendship! Long live China - Africa friendship! Please welcome.
I thank you for your
kind attention.