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Nigeria and China's bilateral trade decreased by N37.3 billion ($80 million) in 2022 compared to the previous record year of 2021, even as both nations work to optimize their trade relations.
The Chinese Chamber of Commerce delegation to the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission was led by Wang Yingqi, Minister and Counselor for Economic and Commercial Affairs at the Embassy of the People's Republic of China. He noted that the trade record was $219 million in 2022 and $300 million in 2021.
“Nigeria and China have maintained a long-standing trade relationship which is why the visit was important to sought ways of improving bilateral relations as trade value alone in last year according to our statistics the total investment from China’s companies to Nigeria is around $219m and in the past year, the figure is also around $300m.”“Nigeria and China have maintained a long-standing trade relationship which is why the visit was important to sought ways of improving bilateral relations as trade value alone in last year according to our statistics the total investment from China’s companies to Nigeria is around $219m and in the past year, the figure is also around $300m,” Wang Yingqi stated.
He added that the Chinese government has invested in the Lekki Free Trade Zone as a result of the Public Private Partnership with the federal government and the Lagos State Government.
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In response, the Executive Secretary of the NIPC, Saratu Umar, reaffirmed the federal government's commitment to fostering closer business ties with the Chinese government in support of both nations' investment drives and said it was finally time for Nigeria to start exporting finished goods to China.
She said, “overtime, Nigeria has always imported raw material to China, but we want to take it a notch further to ensure that we start exporting semi processed and finished goods. Which is why we want the Chinese business environment to identify areas of interest whether it is agriculture or solid minerals so Nigeria can integrate it into the Investment Masterplan.”