In Abuja China seeks more crude oil export from Nigeria

He said that the coming visit of President Muhammad
Buhari to China in April would facilitate the
implementation of agreements reached at the 2015 China-
African summit in Johannesburg.
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China has said it seeks more crude oil exports
from Nigeria in spite of the recent changes in oil
prices.
Mr Zao LingXiang, Economic and Commercial Counsellor of
the Chinese Embassy in Nigeria, said this in an interview
with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja.
``But the total amount of export to China was only about
one million barrels in 2015 that was just 1.3 per cent of
Nigerian annual oil export.
``In my opinion, it really doesn’t matter whether Iran comes
back or not; Chinese companies want to import more crude
oil from Nigeria,” he said.
He said that current trade volume between both countries
stood at 14.94 billion U.S. dollars in 2014 making Nigeria
third largest trade partner of China in Africa.
The economic counsellor added that Nigeria’s trade figure
was 8.3 per cent of China’s total trade volume with Africa
and 42 per cent of the total trade volume between China
and Africa.
He said that China also sought to explore other areas of
cooperation with Nigeria which he noted would be of benefit
to both parties.
``China is the largest developing country in the world and
Nigeria is the largest developing country in Africa and both
countries have complementary advantages in natural and
human resources, funds and markets.
``Right now, the Nigerian Government is trying to diversify
its economy which is fully in line with the 10 China-Africa
cooperation plans announced at the summit on China-
Africa trade in Johannesburg in 2015.
``There are great potential for cooperation between China
and Nigeria in the fields of industrialisation, agricultural
modernisation, infrastructure construction, financial
services, trade and investment facilitation, among others.”
He, however, added that both countries had made
“remarkable achievements” in the areas of infrastructure
cooperation.
He said that the coming visit of President Muhammad
Buhari to China in April would facilitate the implementation
of agreements reached at the 2015 China-African summit in
Johannesburg.
The economic counsellor further added that the president’s
visit would also deepen cooperation between both
countries.
LinXiang explained that the total investment volume
between China and Africa exceeded 100 billion U.S dollars
in 2015 in spite of the decline in imports from Africa.
He also assured that Africa remained China’s largest trade
partner despite recent changes in that country’s economy.
``The amount in import from Africa to China declined but
did not decline remarkably.
``Moreover, the economic and trade cooperation between
China and Africa is not only about trade but technical
cooperation as well.
``China’s total investment volume in Africa last year
increased by 100 times more in a short span of 10 years,
which shows that cooperation between both parties is
moving to a new level,” he said.