Yuqing Canvasses China, Nigeria Cooperation to Strengthen Trade Relations

Kayode Tokede

Consul General of the People’s Republic of China in Lagos, Ms. Yan Yuqing, has called for the extension of China-Nigeria bridge for the benefit of the people with pragmatic cooperation.

This, Yuqing said, would further strengthen economic and trade relations, facilitate bilateral trade, promote bilateral investment to boost Nigeria’s economy and industrial upgrading.

The Consul-General made these assertions at the launching of the First Lagos Forum held in the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA).

Speaking on the theme, “Reviewing the History, Embracing the Future,” Yuqing stated that the China-Nigeria bridge would strengthen scientific and technological cooperation that will promote infrastructure construction and the use of new energy sources to achieve sustainable development in Nigeria. 

She added, “We should widen the China-Nigeria bridge with people-to-people exchange. We will continue to support Chinese culture being brought into Nigeria and encourage Nigeria’s Afrobeat, the Yoruba-Igbo-Hausa three major ethnic dances and Nigerian cuisines to be brought into China. We encourage more Chinese students to come and study in Nigeria, and we hope that more Nigerian students will be able to cross the mountains and seas to learn about a real China through the Chinese Bridge project.

“We support Chinese enterprises and Chinese community in Nigeria to carry out charities and give back to the society. The charity program “Renewed Hope, Rebirth from the Light” financing cataract patients in Nigeria, initiated by me, is a case in point. The friendship makes the bridge between China and Nigeria wider.”