China Central Television (CCTV) reported that President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on a railway project between Tanzania and Zambia with the heads of state of the two countries, who are visiting Beijing to attend the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.
“China is willing to take this summit as an opportunity to make new progress in revitalizing the Tanzania-Zambia railway, cooperate to improve the rail-sea transportation network in East Africa, and make Tanzania a demonstration zone for consolidating high-quality cooperation between China and Africa under the Belt and Road Initiative,” state media quoted Xi as saying.
Earlier this year, the World Bank approved $270 million in financing to help improve connectivity between neighbouring Tanzania and Zambia and boost regional trade.
The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority oversees the Dar es Salaam corridor between the two countries, a major route for exporting copper from the Copper Belt region of Central Africa.
The corridor is an alternative route to bypass logistical bottlenecks in South Africa that have hampered the export of copper and cobalt from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
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