An express freight train service began between Xi'an City, northwest China's Shaanxi Province, and Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan on January 1, 2025.
It also marked the first service of the China-Europe Railway Express services in Xi'an in the new year.
The train, carrying 50 containers of goods including major appliances, textiles and chemicals, will leave China via the Horgos Port, and pass through Kazakhstan before reaching Uzbekistan's Tashkent, with a total distance of more than 4,600 kilometers.
The service has nearly halved the delivery time from eight to 10 days, to five or six days.
Express freight train service launched between China's Xi'an, Uzbekistan's Tashkent
The renewal of the currency swap agreement between China and Nigeria will enhance bilateral trade and help strengthen Nigeria's local economy, said a Nigerian economist.
At the end of December, China's central bank said that it had renewed a bilateral currency swap agreement with the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The total value of the agreement is 15 billion yuan (about 2.09 billion U.S. dollars), or 3.28 trillion Nigerian naira, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.
The agreement is valid for three years and can be renewed upon mutual consent, according to the statement.
The renewed currency swap agreement allows direct naira-to-yuan payments, cutting costs and easing the financial burden for importers like Martines Tochi.
For eight years, Tochi has relied on China for the supply of electrical cables, lighting equipment, and conductors.
Like many Nigerian traders, he once faced challenges in sourcing foreign exchange to pay suppliers
"Sincerely, we've been sourcing dollars from the black market. And we have been facing serious difficulties in sourcing them. Now, you're not going to source here in Nigeria, so it's a good development, a very good development to us," said Tochi.
Economists see this renewed agreement as a pathway to further strengthen the naira and expand bilateral trade.
"That's a very good opportunity for Nigeria to increase its trade volume with China, and it's one of the things that can help also, strengthen the local economy going by the kind of materials or goods that Nigeria imports from China -- electronics, machineries, equipment and what a view, which are essential for boosting industry, for enhancing the growth of our manufacturing sector and creating jobs in Nigeria at large," said Isaac Botti, an economist.
Nigeria is China's third largest trading partner in Africa, with bilateral trade amounting to 22.56 billion US dollars in 2023.
Renewal of currency swap deal boosts trade between China, Nigeria: economist
