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Nigeria, China Bilateral Trade Drops To N37.8bn In One Year

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Nigeria, China Bilateral Trade Drops To N37.8bn In One Year

The bilateral trade between Nigeria and China has dropped by N37.3 bn in 2022 from the previous record in 2021, just as both countries make efforts to improve bilateral relations.

The Minister and Counsellor for Economic and Commercial Affairs, at the Embassy of the Peoples’ Republic of China, Wang Yingqi, made this known on Monday.

Yingqi, who led a delegation of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce on Monday to the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission in Abuja, Saratu Umar, noted that the trade record was $219m in 2022 and $300m in 2021.

He said, “Nigeria and China 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 last year according to our statistics the total investment from China’s companies to Nigeria is around $219m and in the past year, the figure is also around $300m.”

He further said that as a result of the Public Private Partnership with the federal government and the Lagos State Government, the Chinese government has an investment in the Lekki Free Trade Zone.

Responding, Umar reiterated the federal government’s commitment to ensuring deeper business partnerships with the Chinese government on the investment drive of both countries, adding that it was time for Nigeria to start exporting finished goods to China.

She said, “Over time, Nigeria has always imported raw material to China, but we want to take it a notch further to ensure that we start exporting semi-processed and finished goods.

“Which is why we want the Chinese business environment to identify areas of interest whether it is agriculture or solid minerals so Nigeria can integrate it into the Investment Masterplan.”