Chinese Foreign Minister Visits Nigeria Wesnesday

Alex Enumah in Abuja

China’s Foreign Minister, Yi Wang will wednesday visit Nigeria as part of a six-day official visit to Africa.
The visit, which takes him across various regional blocks in Africa, is aimed at strengthening relations between China and Africa.

According to a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, the main purpose of Wang’s visit is to further explore how to implement the major consensus reached between President Xi Jinping and African leaders, as well as the outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).

“It is against the backdrop of new changes emerging in international political and economic situations and new challenges turning up in African countries so as to assist Africa’s rejuvenation and development, boost the upgrading of China-Africa cooperation and contribute to solidarity and common development among developing countries,” the statement read in part.

Speaking further, China’s Foreign Ministry’s spokesperson, Geng Shuang, said Wang chose the five countries as the destination of his first overseas visit in the new year.

Shuang disclosed that the foreign minister’s first trip of every year usually takes him to Africa, a practice he added has been in existence for over two decades, and is already establishing it as a fine diplomatic tradition.
He noted that 2017 would witness China-Africa cooperation marching forward and upgrading in an all-round way. “China’s diplomacy is rooted in strengthening relations with developing countries, including those in Africa,” he said.

According to the release, 2016 was the inaugural year of China-Africa cooperation in the new age, with China and Africa making positive efforts to implement the outcomes of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) and reaping a bunch of important early harvests.

He disclosed that, from January to September 2016, China’s non-financial direct investment to Africa registered a year-on-year 31 per cent increase.

He said: “Between the end of the Johannesburg Summit and the end of last July, 245 cooperation agreements worth more than US$50 billion covering various fields were signed between the two sides.”

Mutually beneficial cooperation between China and Africa has shown a sound momentum of transforming and upgrading”.
The Spokesman noted that, Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and as such become an important source of oil and petroleum to China’s rapidly growing economy.

Other African countries scheduled for the visit include Madagascar, Zambia, Tanzania and Congo.