□ 文/本刊记者 李静

莱索托王国首相访渝邀重庆企业到非洲去养牛

□ 文/本刊记者 李静

5月9日，非洲莱索托王国首相托马斯·莫措阿哈·塔巴内率领团队访问重庆，意欲寻求肉牛养殖合作。重庆市市长黄奇帆会见了来访的莱索托首相一行，双方就加强交流与合作进行了友好会谈。

黄奇帆对塔巴内一行到访重庆表示欢迎。他说，重庆是中国内陆唯一的直辖市、国家五大中心城市之一。近年来，得益于投资、进出口、消费三大动力的拉动，经济保持持续较快发展势头。在新一轮发展过程中，重庆将进一步扩大开放，一方面欢迎境内外客商来渝投资兴业，另一方面也鼓励本地企业“走出去”进行海外投资。重庆愿意与莱索托加强交流与合作，支持重庆企业到莱索托投资发展，特别是在肉牛养殖、屠宰、加工及钻石开采等方面开展合作，互利发展。

莱索托与重庆在追求未来发展上有许多相似之处。中国开放取得举世瞩目的成就，在发展上积累了丰富的经验，非常值得莱索托学习借鉴。非洲在经济发展上仍有很多困境，原材料丰富，经济发展却在初级水平。此次访问重庆，就是想亲眼见证重庆的发展，分享知识、获取发展经验。希望通过双方的务实合作，共促发展。

此后，托马斯·莫措阿哈·塔巴内一行前往丰都恒都公司参观，并就肉牛加工合作事宜进行了商讨。

“莱索托与丰都环境相似，适宜养殖。”塔巴内在考察丰都县恒都农业集团肉牛养殖中心时称，莱索托为亚热带草原气候，全国66%的土地可供放牧，拥有丰富的饲草、劳动力等资源，是肉牛的最佳饲养区。他希望能借助中国的市场和莱索托的资源优势展开进一步合作。

“中国牛肉需求量年增长在5%以上。”重庆市丰都县副县长张承银说，丰都县作为全国首家肉牛订制交易中心，拥有亚洲规模最大的养殖场，年产值超10亿元，但中国牛肉需求量仍有60%需进口，而莱索托从地理环境和区位优势上都将会是很好的合作对象。

此外，塔巴内表示，非常欢迎重庆企业去莱索托投资合作。“莱索托与中国的友谊不仅建立在政治上，也在商业和其他领域存在，这样特殊的关系有利于两国人民的生活，希望双方能展开一些商业建议，在特定领域展开合作，即能创造双赢。”

位于非洲南部、被南非共和国环绕的莱索托王国以农牧业为主，是世界上最大的国中之国。面积3.0344万平方公里，人口203万人。多属班图语系的巴苏陀族和祖鲁族黑人。通用英语和塞苏陀语。首都马塞卢。莱索托王国的经济支柱是农业、畜牧业。主要出口马海毛、钻石等、进口食品、燃料、机械等。

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.