The Chinese government has promised to increase agricultural product imports from Nigeria going forward.
China’s foreign affairs Minister, Wang Yi, and Nigeria’s minister of foreign affairs, Yusuf Tuggar, made this known in a joint statement at the first plenary meeting of the China-Nigeria Intergovernmental Committee held in Beijing.
According to the statement, both countries used the opportunity of the meeting to review the positive achievements in the development of China-Nigeria relations over the past 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
The statement which was published on China’s foreign affairs website, indicated that the two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, electricity, telecommunications, finance, agriculture, industry, mining, free trade zones and other fields.
“China is willing to further increase imports of high-quality agricultural products from Nigeria. Nigeria is willing to strengthen its partnership with China in mining and solid mineral development and is willing to cooperate with Chinese companies to build factories locally to meet local consumption and export needs.
“The two sides are willing to create an open, transparent, fair and non-discriminatory business environment for cooperation between enterprises of the two countries, support the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, oppose trade protectionism, and promote the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment.” the joint statement partly reads.
Furthermore, China promised to support Nigeria in improving its capacity building in military security technology, equipment and intelligence to more effectively respond to traditional and non-traditional security challenges at home and abroad, in the region and internationally, and in maintaining national peace and stability.
Tuggar confirmed the meeting with the Chinese government in a post on his X handle, saying “Both sides agreed to enhance partnership across various sectors and create a business-friendly environment. They also reaffirmed commitments to good governance, regional stability, and economic development, including a currency swap agreement to facilitate trade.”