萊索托王國首相訪渝邀重慶企業到非洲去養牛

□ 文/本刊記者 李靜

萊索托王國首相訪渝邀重慶企業到非洲去養牛

□ 文/本刊記者 李靜

5月9日，非洲萊索托王國首相托馬斯·莫措阿哈·塔巴內率領團隊訪問重慶，意欲尋求肉牛養殖合作。重慶市市長黃奇帆會見了來訪的萊索托首相一行，雙方就加強交流與合作進行了友好會談。

黃奇帆對塔巴內一行到訪重慶表示歡迎。他說，重慶是中國內陸唯一的直轄市、國家五大中心城市之一。近年來，得益于投資、進出口、消費三大動力的拉動，經濟保持持續較快發展勢頭。在新一輪發展過程中，重慶將進一步擴大開放，一方面歡迎境內外客商來渝投資興業，另一方面也鼓勵本地企業“走出去”進行海外投資。重慶愿意與萊索托加強交流與合作，支持重慶企業到萊索托投資發展，特別是在肉牛養殖、屠宰、加工及鉆石開采等方面開展合作，互利發展。

萊索托與重慶在追求未來發展上有許多相似之處。中國開放取得舉世矚目的成就，在發展上積累了豐富的經驗，非常值得萊索托學習借鑒。非洲在經濟發展上仍有很多困境，原材料豐富，經濟發展卻在初級水平。此次訪問重慶，就是想親眼見證重慶的發展，分享知識、獲取發展經驗。希望通過雙方的務實合作，共促發展。

此后，托馬斯·莫措阿哈·塔巴內一行前往豐都恒都公司參觀，并就肉牛加工合作事宜進行了商討。

“萊索托與豐都環境相似，適宜養殖。”塔巴內在考察豐都縣恒都農業集團肉牛養殖中心時稱，萊索托為亞熱帶草原氣候，全國66%的土地可供放牧，擁有豐富的飼草、勞動力等資源，是肉牛的最佳飼養區。他希望能借助中國的市場和萊索托的資源優勢展開進一步合作。

“中國牛肉需求量年增長在5%以上。”重慶市豐都縣副縣長張承銀說，豐都縣作為全國首家肉牛訂制交易中心，擁有亞洲規模最大的養殖場，年產值超10億元，但中國牛肉需求量仍有60%需進口，而萊索托從地理環境和區位優勢上都將會是很好的合作對象。

此外，塔巴內表示，非常歡迎重慶企業去萊索托投資合作。“萊索托與中國的友誼不僅建立在政治上，也在商業和其他領域存在，這樣特殊的關系有利于兩國人民的生活，希望雙方能展開一些商業建議，在特定領域展開合作，即能創造雙贏。”

位于非洲南部、被南非共和國環繞的萊索托王國以農牧業為主，是世界上最大的國中之國。面積3.0344萬平方公里，人口203萬人。多屬班圖語系的巴蘇陀族和祖魯族黑人。通用英語和塞蘇陀語。首都馬塞盧。萊索托王國的經濟支柱是農業、畜牧業。主要出口馬海毛、鉆石等、進口食品、燃料、機械等。

Prime Minister of Lesotho Visits Chongqing and Invites Companies to Raise Cattle in Africa

On May 9, Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahae Thabane of Lesotho in Africa visited Chongqing to seek cooperation in beef cattle breeding. Mayor Huang Qifan met with his delegation and both parties went through a friendly talk to enhance exchanges and cooperation.

Huang welcomed the visit of Prime Minister Thabane. He said that Chongqing is the only municipality directly under Central Government in China’s hinterland and one of the five hub cities in the country. In recent years, driven by investment, import and export and consumption, the city’s economy has maintained a fast growing momentum. In a new round of development, Chongqing will expand its opening-up efforts. On one hand, merchants home and abroad are greatly welcomed to invest in Chongqing; on the other hand, local companies are encouraged to go global for overseas investment. Chongqing is willing to reinforce exchanges and cooperation with Lesotho and supports its companies to invest there, in particular cooperate and benefit each other in beef cattle breeding, butchery, processing as well as diamond mining.

Lesotho shares a lot of similarities with Chongqing in pursuing future development. China’s opening-up has yielded stupendous results, and its rich experiences can be borrowed by Lesotho. Africa still has numerous dilemmas in economic development. Despite rich raw materials, its economic development is confined at a primary level. The visit to Chongqing intends to witness the city’s development, share knowledge and acquire experiences. Hopefully further development opportunities can be stimulated through pragmatic cooperation of both parties.

Later, Prime Minister Thomas Motsoahae Thabane and his delegation visited Fengdu Hengdu Company and discussed the cooperation of beef cattle processing.

“Lesotho is quite similar to Fengdu in its good breeding environment,” said Thabane during his visit in Beef Cattle Breeding Center of Hengdu Agriculture Group in Fengdu County. In the subtropical steppe climate with 66% of its land available for grazing, abundant forage grass and labor resources, Lesotho is the best feeding place for beef cattle. The country strives to roll out further cooperation by combining Chinese market and its own resource advantages.

“China’s beef demand grows by over 5% each year”, said Zhang Chengyin, deputy mayor of Fengdu County, Chongqing. As the first beef cattle customization transaction center in China, Fengdu has the largest breeding facility in Asia with an annual output of RMB 1 billion. 60% of China’s beef demand, however, still needs to be imported, thus Lesotho could be a very ideal partner in terms of its geographic location and regional advantages.

In addition, Thabane said that he extremely welcomed Chongqing companies to invest in Lesotho. “Lesotho’s friendship with China is not just based on politics, but also on commerce and other areas. Such a special relationship is beneficial to people’s lives in both countries. I hope that both parties can come up with some business suggestions and unfold cooperation in certain areas to create win-win situation.”

Located in south Africa and surrounded by Republic of South African, the Kingdom of Lesotho mainly practices agriculture and husbandry and is the largest state within the other state. Covering an area of 30,344 square kilometers, it has a population of 2.03 million, mainly Basuto and Zulu people. English and Lesotho are generally spoken. Its capital is Maseru. The economic pillars are agriculture and husbandry. The country mainly exports mohair and diamond while imports food, fuel and machinery.