China and Nigeria’s Bilateral Trade Declines To N37.8 Billion ln a Year

by Tolulope Akinruli March 21, 2023

written by Tolulope Akinruli March 21, 2023

Despite both nations’ efforts to strengthen their bilateral ties, the bilateral commerce between Nigeria and China decreased by N37.3 billion in 2022 from its previous high in 2021, as captioned by the Entrepreneurng report.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce delegation was led by Wang Yingqi, Minister and Counselor for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China. They met with the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission in Abuja on Monday.

Indeed this business tie has brought a great change in the Nigerian economy directly and indirectly.

He stated that “China and Nigeria have maintained a long-standing trade relationship, which is why the visit was important to seek ways of improving bilateral relations as trade value alone in the past year according to our statistics, the total investment from Chinese companies to Nigeria is around $219m, and in the past year, the figure is also around $300m.”

Additionally, he stated that the Chinese government has invested in the Lekki Free Trade Zone as a result of the Public Private Partnership between the federal government and the Lagos State Government.

In response, the Executive Secretary of the NIPC, Saratu Umar, reaffirmed the federal government’s commitment to ensuring stronger commercial relationships with the Chinese government on the investment push of both countries, saying that Nigeria needed to start exporting finished goods to China.

This will in return boost Nigeria local product and increase its gross domestic product globally.

She remarked, “Over the years, Nigeria has always imported raw materials to China, but we want to step it up a notch to make sure that we start exporting semi-processed and finished items.

In conclusion, we want the Chinese business environment to identify promising sectors, such as solid minerals or agriculture, so Nigeria can include them in its investment master plan.

Source: punch