Trade moves get fresh impetus

China, Nigeria plan joint initiatives

China is encouraging its enterprises to increase investment in Nigeria's manufacturing sector, Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on May 7.

Nigeria has a huge population and consumer market, while China has an edge in the processing industry, Gao said.

The call comes as the latest figures show that trade between the two countries has almost doubled in four years.

The two countries can deepen bilateral cooperation in textiles, clothing and household appliance industries on the basis of their current economic and trade cooperation zones, while gradually expanding the scale and level of cooperation, he said.

Gao said the government also wants Chinese companies to transfer technology and train personnel to increase local job opportunities in the manufacturing sector.

Nigeria is China's third-largest investment destination in Africa, with China's cumulative investment in Nigeria reaching $1.95 billion in 2012.

As well, Nigeria is now China's third-largest trade partner and second-largest export market in Africa, while China is Nigeria's third-largest trade partner.

Trade volume between the two countries reached $13 billion in 2013, the former Chinese ambassador to Nigeria, Deng Boqing, said.

"Last year trade volume was almost double that of four years ago," Deng said.

"We want Chinese companies to establish factories in Nigeria to increase job opportunities for the local people.

"More goods are imported from China to Nigeria than China imports from there. We are aware that more than 30 percent of Nigerian oil products, especially crude oil, is exported to the United States and 1 percent is exported to China."

In recent years, investment in Nigeria by Chinese private enterprises has increased significantly as more than 40 private Chinese firms have entered the country with a total investment of $800 million. Most of the funds have gone into agriculture, textiles, construction materials and mining, Gao said.

Chinese enterprises have invested in Nigeria's seed cultivation industry and have become the Nigerian government's seed providers, helping to improve the country's level of self-sufficiency in grain production, Gao said.

Chinese and Nigerian enterprises are also working together to operate satellite networks, with digital television signals now covering 84 percent of the country.

Within the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, Chinese enterprises and the Nigerian government have established two economic and trade cooperation zones in Nigeria and opened chinaware, furniture and household appliance factories, creating more than 4,000 jobs in the country, Gao said.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 05/09/2014 page9)