The Chinese government has promised to increase agricultural product imports from Nigeria going forward.
This was disclosed in a joint statement between Wang Yi, China’s foreign affairs Minister and his Nigerian counterpart, Yusuf Tuggar, at the first plenary meeting of the China-Nigeria Intergovernmental Committee held in Beijing.
This is after Nigeria exported N572.58 billion worth of agricultural products to the Asian market including China, according to data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
The two sides seized the moment to review the positive achievements in the development of China-Nigeria relations over the past 50 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations.
Strengthening Cooperation
According to the joint statement published on China’s foreign affairs website on Saturday, the two countries agreed to strengthen cooperation in infrastructure, electricity, telecommunications, finance, agriculture, industry, mining, free trade zones and other fields.
The Chinese side assured of improving agriculture imports from Nigeria among other things.
“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 said supported 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.
What the Nigerian government is saying
In his X page on Saturday, Tuggar confirmed the deliberations in the meeting with the Chinese government.
He stated that their discussions reviewed over 50 years of robust Nigeria-China relations, emphasizing mutual support in international fora like the UN, and exploring new avenues of cooperation in infrastructure, agriculture, and digital economies.
“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,” Tuggar tweeted.
What you should know
China is well grounded in commercial relations with Nigeria over the years.
In the first quarter of 2024, China ranked highest among the top trading partners on the import side, followed by India, the United States of America, Belgium, and The Netherlands.
Analysis by trading partners reveals that imports originated mainly from China and were valued at N2,930.10 billion, representing 23.18% of total imports
“The data showed that most of the agricultural products were exported to Asia, valued at N572.58 billion, this was followed by exports to Europe with N366.11 billion,” the NBS for Q1, 2024 showed.
The NBS added that further analysis showed that ‘Sesamum seeds’ worth N83.29 billion and N58.04 billion were exported to China and Japan in the period under review.