China, Tanzania, and Zambia signed an initial agreement to revitalize the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority on September 4, in an attempt to improve rail-sea transportation in East Africa, according to a report from Reuters.
China proposed spending $1 billion to revamp the decades-old 1,156-mile-long railway in February via a public-private partnership model, according to the specialist news outlet Construction Briefing.
President Xi Jinping spoke about improving China-Africa relations and working together towards modernization at the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation on September 5.
The Tanzanian president, Samia Suluhu Hassan, and the Zambian president, Hakainde Hichilema, attended the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, according to the Chinese-government-run Xinhua news agency, as reported by Reuters.
The single-track railway, originally constructed between 1970 and 1975 by Chinese and African workers, was funded by an interest-free loan from China and currently allows cargo transport from Zambia's copper and cobalt mines to Tanzania's coast, according to Construction Briefing.
Regarding the construction project, the outlet reported that, per state media, the Chinese president said, "China is willing to take this summit as an opportunity to make new progress in the revitalization of the Tanzania-Zambia railway, cooperate to improve the rail-sea intermodal transport network in East Africa, and build Tanzania into a demonstration zone for deepening high-quality China-Africa Belt and Road cooperation."
Newsweek has reached out to the Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the U.K., the High Commission for the Republic of Zambia in London, and the United Republic of Tanzania government for comment via email.
At the opening ceremony of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Xi gave a keynote speech about improving China-Africa relations in a new era, and the regions supporting one another in a quest for "fair and responsible" modernization, according to the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China's press release.
The Forum on China-Africa Cooperation was first established in 2000 according to the Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China's press release.
President Xi said that China is "willing to actively carry out cooperation with Africa in areas such as talent training, poverty reduction, and employment" in its pursuit of modernization for both countries, according to the release.
In addition to working to build a governance exchange platform and improve trade, President Xi also spoke of implementing 30 infrastructure connectivity projects in Africa to promote construction of the "Belt and Road," a global infrastructure initiative adopted by China in 2013, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
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