Nigeria fully adopts China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) as it shares many similarities with the country's long-time pursuit of exploring trade routes, said Nigerian Foreign Minister Yusuf Tuggar.
Speaking in an interview with China Global Television Network (CGTN) on the sidelines of the ongoing Summer Davos forum in northeast China's Dalian, Tuggar noted that as Africa's largest economy and most populous nation, Nigeria is well-positioned to capitalize on expanding trade links within the continent and beyond, saying that historical commercial ties and shared development goals with China provide a foundation for the BRI partnership.
"Nigeria is not only the most populous, it's also the largest economy (in Africa). So it's a gateway into the African Continental Free Trade Area, which is going to be the largest market in the world. And of course, Nigeria is going to be the third largest country in the world with a population of 400 million. So that collaboration is something that is going to be quite essential. You see with the Belt and Road Initiative, we have already a foundation for collaboration because we think the same way. It's China that created the Silk Road, you have got the spice trade, Nigeria has been engaged or the people that became Nigerian when it was created, have been engaged in the transparent trade, have been engaged in the colonial trade. Trade routes into other parts of Africa have been engaged in coastal trade along the West African Coast, the Gulf of Guinea. And then also along the two great African rivers, the Niger and the Benue, everywhere you go in Nigeria, every day is a market day even in a city, in a town, in a village, it's a huge market. We are used to trading and interacting with each other, so the Belt and Road is the same thing. It's a modern day, transparent trade route, it's a modern day Silk Road, so we are fully adopted," he said.
When asked about those alleged risks of China-Africa cooperation, Tuggar stated that the China-Africa partnership is showing that there are ways to circumvent risks and promote concrete cooperation projects.
"The fact that China is a developing country, so it shares some of our concerns, it shares some of the urgency to create jobs, to take people out of poverty. And China has done it recently. Other countries, perhaps, did it a very long time ago. So we have that in common, and again, China has demonstrated its willingness to transfer technology as well. There is a transport university that was built along the margins of a rail project in Nigeria. So that transport university obviously is going to train Nigerians locally to be able to build their own railroads in the future and to also manage the ones that have been built. A lot of the times we hear about risk, risk, risk, political risks, financial risks. The partnership between China and Africa is showing that there is a way around risks, and these things are doable," he said.
China's Belt and Road shares similarities with Nigeria's trade pursuit: Nigerian FM
