REMARKS BY H.E. DR. JAKAYA MRISHO KIKWETE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA AT THE STATE BANQUET HOSTED IN HIS HONOUR BY H.E. EDGAR CHAGWA LUNGU, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF ZAMBIA, 25th FEBRUARY, 2015, LUSAKA



Rais Dkt.Jakaya Mrisho Kikwete na mwenyeji wake Rais Edgar Lungu wa Zambia wakigonga glasi wakati wa dhifa ya kitaifa aliyoiandaa kwa heshima ya Rais Kikwete jijini Lusaka Zambia jana jioni.

Your Excellency Edgar Lungu and Mrs. Esther Lungu;
Your Excellency Madame Inonge Wina, Vice President;
Honourable Ministers and Members of Parliament;
Your Excellencies, Ambassadors and High Commissioners;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and Gentlemen;        
I thank Your Excellency and dear brother for the kind words you have said about me, my country and the excellent relations which so happily exist between our two sister-republics.  I cannot find words good enough to express my profound joy to be able to pay a visit to Zambia, so early into your Presidency.  In this regard, I sincerely thank you for your kind invitation and the very warm reception and gracious hospitality.  You have made my wife and I and our entire delegation feel very much at home.  This is the typical Zambian reception we know.  I also thank you so much for the wonderful arrangement which has made my short visit very successful.  It speaks a thousand words about the importance you attach to our relations.    
          I bring with me, very warm and fraternal greetings from the government and your brothers and sisters in Tanzania. They heartily congratulate you on your well deserved election to the highest office of your great country, despite the preceding sad circumstances which necessitated the elections.  They wish you well and pray for your success in steering the affairs of your great nation. 
The people of Tanzania look to this visit with great enthusiasm and optimism.  They do so because, it has been a tradition since the days of the  founding fathers of our two sister Republics, His Excellency Kenneth Kaunda and His Excellency Mwalimu Julius Nyerere (now late) that the exchange of such visits not only advance our relations but, also, come up with big things. 
 The previous meetings between our leaders give birth to the Tanzania – Zambia Highway, the Tanzania – Zambia Railway (TAZARA), the TAZAMA Pipeline and a host of joint endeavours.  These symbolic projects have always been the umbilical cord linking our two nations and two peoples.  They have been defining and sustaining our bilateral relations. When some of these institutions would be going through difficulties, meetings like ours would help resolve or easy them. 
          Indeed, our people were right to harbour such expectations. The very fruitful official talks we held, lived up to their wishes and expectations.  Let me say that all the pertinent issues obtaining in the Zambia-Tanzania relations and cooperation were discussed in depth and breath.  Mutual understanding was reached, particularly on ways and means to tackle the challenges being experienced and develop our bilateral relations and cooperation to the greatest heights possible.  This underlines the trust and confidence between our two countries. The cordial nature of the discussions is worth mentioning, for it speaks volumes about the special bonds and friendship between our two countries.   
We have discussed ways to revive TAZARA and make it a well functioning railway line for the benefit of our two countries and the region.  We discussed the TAZAMA pipelines, the Tanzania  - Zambia Highway, the Dar es Salaam Ports, Tunduma/Nakonde border post, as well as movement of people of our two countries.  We explored other matters of mutual interest and benefit to our two countries and two peoples.  Sincerely, I will go home tomorrow immensely satisfied with the state of our relations.  There is a very bright future ahead of us. 
Your Excellency;
          I am glad we both saw the need of doing more to promote trade and investments between our countries.  It is in this regard that I agree with you that we should encourage our Chambers of Commerce and captains of Industries to be more proactive in promoting relations between them.  Let them play their rightful role and help grow our economies, create jobs and alleviate poverty.  We would like to see them pressurize our two governments to do better with regard to our facilitation role.  We also, underscored the role of the Joint Permanent Commission (JPC) as a vehicle to strengthen and advance our bilateral cooperation. Accordingly, we tasked our Ministers responsible for the various cooperation sector to ensure better performance and delivery. 
Your Excellency;
          I am confident that Tanzanians and Zambians will witness positive things happening in all our areas of cooperation from now on because of this visit.  Some will be soon while some will take a while.  Honestly, I could not have had a fulfilling visit than this.  Once again, I extend my sincere gratitude to you and the people of Zambia for the unmatched friendly welcome, generosity and a very successful short visit.  We wish we could stay longer. I hope,  you will also find time out of your busy schedule to pay a visit in the near future.  It has been a while since we hosted a Zambian President for an official visit in Tanzania.  We look forward to welcome you to your second home.
Your Excellency;
Distinguished Guests;
Ladies and gentlemen;
          May I now ask all of you present to rise and join me in a toast to the continued good health and success of His Excellency the President and Madame Esther Lungu; to continued friendship and cooperation between our two countries and peoples.
Asanteni sana.

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