DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa said on Wednesday that the east African nation welcomes Chinese investors, saying geography has made Tanzania a natural trade and logistics hub.
"I would like ... to invite and to welcome investors from China to follow the 'One Belt, One Road' philosophy along the path that leads to Tanzania as the landing beach head on the eastern seaboard of Africa," Majaliwa said.
The prime minister made the remarks during his inspection in Tooku Garments Company Limited, a Chinese firm at Benjamin William Mkapa special economic zone in Dar Es Salaam.
With fertile arable land, industrial raw materials, and a sizeable and trainable young population with social stability, Tanzania is an ideal platform to accommodate industrial enterprises that wish to relocate from China to Africa, especially for those in search of access to markets, sources of industrial raw materials and manpower for labor intensive industries, said the prime minister.
The total African regional population that can be accessed through Tanzania, a trade and logistics hub for an integrated market, is 600 million, according to the prime minister.
Tooku will employ around 6,000 workers and that will mean a fourfold growth from the current number of 1,500 workers over the next 30 months or so after local residents graduate from a training program jointly sponsored by the Tanzanian government and the Chinese private sector.
The list of development assistance projects standing as monuments and legacy of the all-weather friendship of China and Tanzania is quite impressive, the prime minister said, listing the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) project as an example.
It is sufficient to say the development assistance that Tanzania has received from China over the past five decades has touched the lives of many Tanzanians and made a positive difference to economy and social services delivery that touches the lives of ordinary Tanzanians, he said. Enditem
A single purchase
