2010-06-30 09:24

In an interview with Xinhua in mid-April, Tanzanian Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Mustapha Mkulo said, "Tanzania has benefited a lot from the Chinese assistance on infrastructure in Africa. I think the first project of the infrastructure for probably the whole of Africa, is TAZARA, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway."

Mkulo said that the more than 1,860 km railway puts a link of the port of Dar es Salaam and the land-locked country of Zambia. "I'm glad that not only the Chinese helped us 30 years ago, but they are helping us even today. We even signed an agreement for more assistance in December when I went to China. We valued that assistance, and we continued to value that assistance."

"In this regard, China has won the respect and trust of the partner countries," he said. "Even after the global financial crisis, while addressing its own economic difficulties, China has managed to maintain some growth of its assistance programs."

The Chinese government has also announced eight new initiatives for the next three years to help development of Africa, including preferential loans of 10 billion U.S. dollars, 100 clean- energy programs to develop solar energy, biogas, and small hydropower, loans of 1 billion U.S. dollars specifically earmarked for small-and-medium-sized enterprises to reinforce their financing capabilities, enhancement of cultural and scientific exchanges and further cooperation in the medical and health care sectors, Yi said.

China's other moves to aid the developing countries include: opening up market to enhance the productivity of the least developed countries (LDCs), increasing investment in developing countries to enhance their ability for economic growth, and building capacity through training, he said.