BEIJING, Oct. 25 (Xinhua) -- Building the Comprehensive Service Cooperation Zone of East Africa Commercial & Logistics Industrial Park in Tanzania was included in the List of Practical Cooperation Deliverables of the Third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation unveiled on October 18.
The cooperation zone, invested and developed by Weihai Huatan Supply Chain Management Co., Ltd. (Huatan) from Weihai City in east China's Shandong Province in 2020, covers a total area of 109,700 square meters. It consists of an East Africa commercial and logistics center (EACLC), an exhibition center, a Huatan overseas warehouse, which are located in the Dar es Salaam City of Tanzania, and a bonded warehousing and logistics park at the Zanzibar Airport in Tanzania's Zanzibar Island. It is also equipped with a cross-border e-commerce platform.
Of the total, the first phase of the EACLC has accommodated more than 200 Chinese and Tanzanian enterprises, and the second phase scheduled to be put into use in next March is expected to see the settlement of over 1,600 merchants. Upon construction completion, the EACLC will become the largest commercial and logistics complex in Tanzania.
Three years on, the cooperation zone has become a signature cooperation project between China and Tanzania, with capacity to provide comprehensive services such as commodity trading, exhibition and display, overseas warehousing, logistics support, cross-border e-commerce, and supply chain finance. In 2022, the cooperation zone achieved a total output value of 210 million U.S. dollars, driving domestic exports of over 270 million U.S. dollars.
So far, the cooperation zone has housed more than 230 enterprises, including 60-odd from China. It has provided more than 2,000 direct and indirect job positions for local people and is expected to raise the number to more than 5,000 after construction completes. (Edited by Su Dan with Xinhua Silk Road, sudan@xinhua.org)
A single purchase
