China has
said it would need more crude oil exports from Nigeria, in spite of the recent
changes in prices.
Zao LingXiang, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of the
Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, said this in an interview with the News Agency of
Nigeria in Abuja.
The total
amount of export to China was only about one million barrels in 2015, which was
just 1.3 per cent of Nigerian annual oil export.
“In my
opinion, it really doesn’t matter whether Iran comes back or not; Chinese
companies want to import more crude oil from Nigeria,” he said.
He said
current trade volume between both countries stood at $14.94 billion in 2014,
making Nigeria third largest trade partner of China in Africa.
The
economic counsellor added that Nigeria’s trade figure was 8.3 per cent of
China’s total trade volume with Africa and 42 per cent of the total trade
volume between China and Africa.
He said
that China also sought to explore other areas of cooperation with Nigeria which
he noted would be of benefit to both parties.
“China is
the largest developing country in the world and Nigeria is the largest
developing country in Africa and both countries have complementary advantages
in natural and human resources, funds and markets.
“Right
now, the Nigerian government is trying to diversify its economy which is fully
in line with the 10 China-Africa cooperation plans announced at the summit on
China-Africa trade in Johannesburg in 2015.
“There
are great potential for cooperation between China and Nigeria in the fields of
industrialisation, agricultural modernisation, infrastructure construction,
financial services, trade and investment facilitation, among others.”
He,
however, added that both countries had made “remarkable achievements” in the
areas of infrastructure cooperation.
He said
that the coming visit of President Muhammad Buhari to China in April would
facilitate the implementation of agreements reached at the 2015 China-African
summit in Johannesburg.
The
economic counsellor further added that the president’s visit would also deepen
cooperation between both countries. Mr. LinXiang explained that the total
investment volume between China and Africa exceeded $100 billion in 2015 in
spite of the decline in imports from Africa.
He also
assured that Africa remained China’s largest trade partner despite recent
changes in that country’s economy.
“The
amount in import from Africa to China declined but did not decline remarkably.
“Moreover, the economic and trade cooperation between China and Africa is not
only about trade but technical cooperation as well.
“China’s
total investment volume in Africa last year increased by 100 times more in a
short span of 10 years, which shows that cooperation between both parties is moving
to a new level,” he said.
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