Nigeria: Buhari heads to China to sign new development pacts

In a bid to secure greater support from Beijing for the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure including the power, roads, railway, aviation, water supply and housing sectors, President Muhammadu Buhari will on Sunday leave for China on a working visit.

President Buhari’s talks with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, Zhang Dejiang will focus on strengthening bilateral cooperation in line with Nigeria government’s agenda for rapid diversification of the economy, local media reports.

Several new agreements and memoranda of understanding that would boost trade and economic relations between Africa’s largest economy and China would be concluded and signed in the course of the visit.

The agreements include a framework agreement between the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the National Development and Reform Commission of the Peoples Republic of China to Boost Industrial Activities and Infrastructural Development in Nigeria.

Others are a framework agreement between the Federal Ministry of Communications and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and a memorandum of understanding between Nigeria and China on Scientific and Technological Cooperation.

President Buhari and his delegation will also tour the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone to gain more useful insights and understanding of the policies that underpinned China’s astronomical economic growth in recent years.

He is also expected to open a China-Nigeria Business/ Investment Forum in Beijing and meet with members of the Nigerian Community in China before returning to Abuja at the weekend.

President Buhari will also open a China-Nigeria Business/Investment Forum in Beijing, & meet with members of the Nigerian Community in China

— President Buhari (@NGRPresident) April 9, 2016