The Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, has disclosed that President Bola Tinubu and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, reached agreements in all spheres especially in the economy during the visit of the Nigerian leader to the Asian country.
According to Edun, who spoke exclusively to Channels Television from China, both leaders in their discussion, reached agreement on infrastructural developments, particularly on roads, rail and seaports.
“The state visit between China and Nigeria on intensifying cooperation across all spheres, the political, the economic and of course the socio-cultural.
So, in terms of the political, there was a commitment to joining voices and speaking with one voice across multilateral organisations such as the UN and so forth.
And secondly, in terms of the economic and financial, there was discussion and there were number of agreements reached on infrastructure development in particular – road, rail, and seaport,” Edun said.
He said that while many people always focus on borrowing and lending, there was an important emphasis on foreign direct investment from China to Nigeria in this case.
“For example, the Lekki port is actually a foreign direct investment by a Chinese company. They also participated in the construction of the port and also the financing on an equity bases.
That is what we need to see more of – equity financing by domestic investors, by foreign investors,” he said.
Both leaders had met on Tuesday, with Tinubu’s media aide, Ajuri Ngelale, saying that they announced the elevation of Nigeria-China ties to that of a comprehensive strategic partnership.
He added that the duo agreed to build a high-level Nigeria-China community with a shared future.
At the invitation of the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping, President Tinubu was in China for a State Visit on Tuesday, and to attend the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
