Aidoghie Paulinus, Abuja
The Chinese government has said that Chinese companies invested a whopping $100 million in the first 10 months of 2018.
It also expressed its willingness to give priority to supporting Nigeria in breaking the bottlenecks that hinder Nigeria’s industrialisation and agricultural modernisation, including backward infrastructure, shortage of professionals and lack of funds.
The Chinese Economic and Commercial Counsellor, Embassy of the People’s Republic of China, Abuja, Mr. Zhao Linxiang, made the disclosure during a reception party for participants of the training courses in China.
He said after President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to China in 2016, the two countries have been working together to promote win-win cooperation, as well as seeking common development.
Linxiang added that the two sides also maintained the sound momentum of high-level exchanges and strengthened friendly exchanges in all fields.
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He recalled President Buhari’s visit to China in September 2018 for the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Summit in Beijing where President Buhari and Chinese President, Xi Jinping, had a bilateral meeting and released another series of corporation projects.
Linxiang further said China was ready to work with Nigeria to strengthen mutually-beneficial cooperation in the fields of agriculture, infrastructure, capacity building and other major economic departments.
“China is willing to give priority to supporting Nigeria in breaking the bottlenecks that hinder Nigerian industrialisation and agricultural modernisation, including backward infrastructure, shortage of professionals and lack of funds.
“The trade and investment cooperation between China and Nigeria has been steadily developing. In the first 10 months of 2017, our bilateral trade reached $12 billion and the growth rate is 8.6 percent. Chinese companies have invested around $100 million in the first 10 months of this year. We are also glad to see that there are more Nigerian companies invested in China this year,” Linxiang said.
The Chinese Economic Counsellor further said China and Nigeria had achieved major infrastructure projects, adding that in 2018, China and Nigeria cooperated on several major infrastructure projects.
“On July 12, 2018, Nigeria held the opening ceremony of the Abuja Rail Mass Transit Project Phase 1, which was built by CCECC and the very first urban subway put into operation in West Africa.
“On September 5th, during President Buhari’s visit to China, the two governments of China and Nigeria signed the concessional loan contract of National Information and Communication Technology Infrastructure Backbone Phase 11 Project with the witness of President Buhari and President Xi Jinping. This project will be carried out by Huwei.
“On October 25th, the new terminal of Port Harcourt International Airport was put into use with President Buhari attending the opening. We will also see the new international terminal of Abuja International Airport’s opening ceremony. Those two terminals, with other two in Lagos and Kano under construction now, are all built by CCECC,” Linxiang further said.
Linxiang added that in the outgoing year, China is also speeding up the process of the construction of Agriculture Demonstration Center for Nigeria, while also advancing the Satellite TV project for 1000 villages in Nigeria.
