00:00Well, Zambia's Foreign Minister, Mulan Buhambe, has been speaking about the significance of Premier Li's visit.
00:06China is looking at partnering with us in the energy sector.
00:11We have predominantly relied on hydroelectric power.
00:1680% of our electricity generation comes from hydroelectric power.
00:19And on the back of climate change, we have realized that there's a need for us to bring these new technologies which can harness other forms of generation, a blended sort of approach to electricity generation, one of the keys being solar.
00:35And this is what really we are doing with our Chinese partners.
00:38And this visit by the Premier goes to ensure that we not only talk about achieving these outcomes, about achieving energy security, but also take practical steps in doing so, like I said a short while ago.
00:54And there are other sectors, of course, where we look at cooperation in the critical mineral space, in value addition in terms of industrial, possible industrialization, working closely with China.
01:07The sky, I believe, is the limit.
01:09And we look to our all-weather friends to achieve, I'll keep on saying the same thing, this win-win sort of approach to our development objectives.
01:17And, of course, this is also on the back of the Belt and Road Initiative that China is undertaking.
01:23Yeah, certainly China is really well placed to assist Zambia with those infrastructure needs.
01:28One of them, of course, a key one, is the Tezara railway line.
01:32That was built in the 1970s, and it's now being revived.
01:35There's already an agreement with China, Tanzania, and Zambia.
01:40And a critical mission for this railway line will be getting those rare earth minerals that everybody wants with their electric cars out of the region.
01:49Tell us a little bit more about that project and how it's going.
01:51So, thank you.
01:55And, again, you're spot on.
01:58Where I sit now, we're actually minutes away from having the groundbreaking, ceremonial groundbreaking, of this very important revitalization program.
02:07And this is probably a key highlight of the visit by the Premier.
02:12He, President Hijilema of Zambia and Vice President from Tanzania, will be seated in one room next few minutes from now and officially launch, shall I use that expression, this revitalization project.
02:26But the whole essence, and this is part of the discussions that we had earlier in the morning during the bilateral conversation between Zambia and China, is that we are looking at Tazara revitalization not only as a transport corridor, but an economic corridor, which is aimed at bringing benefits to those along the entire corridor.
02:48So, as you said, also, as a means of critical mineral transportation, but also, importantly, where we have value addition in Zambia, then the product out of that, be it EV, batteries, and so on and so forth, can easily find their way into other markets.
03:02And I need to mention here that one of the key aspects of our partnership is that China recognizes that the central location, the geographic location of Zambia, means that we have a market in excess of 350 people around us because we are land-linked, not land-locked.
03:18Land-linked country with eight, nine neighbors around us.
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