The newly appointed Consul General of the People’s Republic of China to Nigeria, Chao Xiaoliang, has said that Buhari’s visit to China brought consensus of furthering China-Nigeria partnership as both countries have reinforced a new momentum to the development of their bilateral relations.
Xiaoliang who said coming back to Africa to serve as Chinese Consul General Nigeria has brought back good memories of the hospitality of Africans added that, “I have worked in Ethiopia and coming back to Africa and in Nigeria, I feel quite at home and for more than one month here, I have met most friendly, kind hearted and of course, hospitable Nigerians.”
Xiaoliang spoke during his reception ceremony in Lagos.
He said that Nigeria is the most popular country in Africa and being the largest economy has gained admiration all over the world.
This he said is great achievement, “And like China, Nigeria is a great country, with a long history and it is really a great honour to work here in Nigeria as a Chinese Consul General”, he said, adding that, “This year marks 45th anniversary of establishing diplomatic tie between China and Nigeria.”
“And for past 45 year, China- Nigeria relation has enjoyed strong and steady bilateral development. And President Buhari’s visit to China brought consensus of furthering China-Nigeria partnership and the two governments both signed a lot of agreements, which will inject new momentum to the development of our bilateral relations.”
Xiaoliang also stated that China-Nigeria trade volume in 2014, reached 18 billion USD, which is highest in history and in 2015, even under the backdrop of sluggish economy, the trade volume still reached 15 billion USD, which accounted for 42 per cent of trade volume between China and ECOWAS.
He said, “Nigeria is still China’s 1stand largest export destination and is still the largest trade partner in Africa. Our personal exchange became more frequent as more and more Nigerian people come to learn the Chinese culture.
“We have increased number of Nigeria overseas students who choose China as their foremost destination. The cooperation in cultural fields, like arts, sports, film etc became much closer.
“More Chinese enterprise and citizens are coming to invest and develop in Nigeria. These promote social development, create employment opportunities for the local people and play a role in strengthening the friendship between the people, as well as promote our bilateral relations.”
While expressing the Chinese Consulate General’s strong will to further promote China and Nigeria friendly cooperation, for fact that the two governments’ friendship has deepened, he said, “The good relationship between China and Nigeria is not only of great importance to them but also benefitting to the peace and development and looking back,I am delighted to the achievement we have made in our bilateral friendly cooperation, looking ahead, China-Nigeria relationship, will continue to maintain a strong and rapid development”.
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