The Chinese Commercial Consular to Nigeria, Mr. Hongliang Gao, on Wednesday disclosed that the value of Nigeria-China merchandise trade grew to $7.2 billion at the end of June this year, thereby making China the third largest trading partner with Nigeria.
Gao provided the trade figures at the opening ceremony of the 2018 China-Nigeria Trade Fair in Lagos, adding that Chinese government is committed to a sustainable and mutually beneficial relationship with Nigeria.
He explained: “Nigeria is Africa’s first population country and the largest economy. It is rich in natural resources, fertile land and huge market potential. In recent years, the friendship between China and Nigeria have been further strengthened, high-level exchanges have become closer, political mutual trust has deepened, bilateral economic and trade cooperation have achieved fruitful results, and the scale of trade has continued to expand.
“From January to June this year, the bilateral trade volume between China and Nigeria reached $7.2 billion, representing 7. 6 percent year-on-year (YoY) growth.
“At present, Nigeria is China’s third largest trading partner in Africa, the largest engineering contracting market and an important investment destination. The continuous and in-depth development of China-Nigeria economic and trade relations is in the common interest of the two peoples”, the envoy added.
Reflecting on the just ended Forum on China Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit, held in Beijing, China, Gao explained that the Chinese President Xi Jinping used the event to share the friendship and discussed the plans with the leaders of African countries.
Describing the summit as a major event in the historical development of China-Africa relations, he pointed out specifically that the FOCAC “established a historical monument of China-Africa friendly exchanges, played a strong voice of China-Africa economic and trade cooperation, and point out the future development direction of China –Africa relations.”
He expatiated: “The China-Africa Cooperation Forum closed successfully yesterday. Today, the 2018 China -Nigeria Expo has entered Lagos and was grandly opened. It is just the right time. The Expo is an important measure for the organisers and exhibitors to actively respond to the national interest.
‘One Belt and One Road,’ initiative, explore emerging markets in African countries, and optimises the layout of the international market. In this exhibition, nearly 100 companies from 13 provinces and cities in China participated, 200 booths and 4,000 square meters of exhibition area”, Gao enthused.
