The Chinese government has pledged that imports of Nigerian agricultural products will rise in the future.
At the inaugural plenary meeting of the China-Nigeria Intergovernmental Committee, which was held in Beijing, this was revealed in a joint statement made by Yusuf Tuggar, the foreign affairs minister of Nigeria, and Wang Yi, the minister of foreign affairs of China.
This comes after Nigeria, according to data from the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS), sold agricultural items valued at N572.58 billion to the Asian market, which included China.
The two parties took advantage of the occasion to discuss the favourable developments in the 50 years since the start of diplomatic relations between China and Nigeria.
Increasing Collaboration
The two nations decided to increase their collaboration in a number of areas, including infrastructure, energy, telecommunications, finance, agriculture, industry, mining, and free trade zones. This was said in a joint statement that was posted on China’s foreign affairs website on Saturday.
Among other things, the Chinese side promised to improve Nigerian agricultural imports.
“China is prepared to enhance its imports of Nigerian agricultural products of superior quality. Nigeria is prepared to work with Chinese businesses to establish local factories to satisfy the demands of both domestic consumption and exports, as well as to expand its cooperation with China in the mining and solid mineral development sectors.”
“The two sides are willing to support the multilateral trading system with the WTO at its core, oppose trade protectionism, and promote the liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment. They also want to create an open, transparent, fair, and non-discriminatory business environment for cooperation between enterprises of the two countries,” a portion of the joint statement says.
Moreover, China stated that it helped Nigeria enhance its military security technology, equipment, and intelligence capabilities to better address conventional and unconventional security threats both domestically and globally, as well as to preserve peace and stability within the country.
What Nigeria’s government is saying
Tuggar verified the discussions of the meeting with the Chinese government on his X page on Saturday.
According to him, they reviewed more than 50 years of strong Nigeria-China relations, placed a strong emphasis on supporting one another in international fora like the UN, and looked into new opportunities for collaboration in the fields of infrastructure, agriculture, and digital economy.
“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 shared on X (formerly Twitter).
Things To Note
China has established strong business ties with Nigeria over the years.
China was the biggest trading partner for imports in the first quarter of 2024, followed by the United States of America, Belgium, The Netherlands, and India.
Trading partners’ analysis shows that imports were valued at N2,930.10 billion, or 23.18% of total imports, with the majority of them coming from China.
According to the NBS for Q1, 2024, “the data showed that the majority of agricultural products were exported to Asia, valued at N572.58 billion, followed by exports to Europe with N366.11 billion.”
The NBS stated that additional investigation revealed that during the period under review, “sesamum seeds” worth N83.29 billion and N58.04 billion were shipped to China and Japan, respectively.
