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- Feb 20, 2014
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Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Dr Lu Youqing in talks with Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) Executive Secretary Kajubi Mukajanga, yesterday in Dar es Salaam.
The Chinese Ambassador to Tanzania, Lu Youqing has warned that donor dependency hampers national development aspirations because according to him, ‘donors always pursue their own agendas under the pretext of assisting developing countries.'
As such, he emphasised the need for citizenry to shoulder the country's destiny and to achieve this, the envoy said; "Media outlets should take the lead in confidence building among the citizens to make them understand that the country's destiny is in their own hands," he urged.
Ambassador Youqing gave the advice yesterday in Dar es Salaam when the Media Council of Tanzania (MCT) Executive Secretary Kajubi Mukajanga paid him a courtesy call at the diplomat's offices in the city. "Tanzania is endowed with abundant natural resources, all that is required is confidence among its people," the diplomat said.
"The media can help build this confidence so that Tanzanians know they have the capacity to spur socio-economic development of their own country," he urged.
He suggested for the media to highlight available resources as a means of encouraging domestic participation. Ambassador Youqing said the media is in a position to help fellow countrymen and women build and develop themselves to become captains of their own destiny.
He criticised western media for negative reporting of most of events in the developing world, including China. "The media can tell the country's story better," he said.
"Take for example the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) or natural gas pipeline which is under construction from Mtwara to Dar es Salaam, it is local media that can give detailed coverage that will motivate citizens to pursue the available opportunities in such sectors and projects," he said. Ambassador Youqing underscored China's willingness to support the MCT in its various ventures and initiatives among other things.
Both the Chinese embassy and MCT agreed to work out modalities on how the two countries' media could cooperate in various areas, including exchange programmes for journalists and conducting specialised training sessions for the media fraternity.
Source: The Guardian