On April 27, the Chinese Ambassador H.E. Gu Xiaojie held a briefing, introducing to Nigerian communities the state visit by president Buhari to China. Officials of Nigerian Foreign Affairs and Information ministries, mainstream media correspondents, representatives from major Nigerian research institutions and think tanks, and Chinese journalists in Nigeria were present on the occasion.
Ambassador Gu pointed out that, this year marks the 45th anniversary of the establishment of China-Nigeria diplomatic relations. With the joint efforts of the two sides, the two countries have gained fruitful achievements from friendly and mutually beneficial cooperation in all fields. Not long ago, Nigerian President Buhari led a large senior delegation to visit China and became the first African Head of State to visit China after the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) Johannesburg Summit. During this visit, President Xi Jinping held fruitful talks with President Buhari. H.E. Li Keqiang, Chinese State Council Premier and H.E. Zhang Dejiang, Chairman of Standing Committee of National People’s Congress met with President Buhari on separate occasions. During the visit, the two sides reached important consensus on bilateral relations, co-hosted a bilateral forum on industrial capacity and investment cooperation as well as a reception marking the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties.
During the above-mentioned talks and meetings, leaders of the two countries reached consensus that, the two countries should give full play to corresponding development strategies, strong economic complementarity and enormous cooperative potential. The two sides should maintain the sound momentum of high-level exchanges to constantly enhance strategic mutual trust. The two sides should deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in such fields as agriculture and fisheries, infrastructure, petroleum refining, mineral exploitation, electromechanical system, light industry, textile industry, and processing and manufacturing, human resources, so as to help Nigeria realize diversified economic development and boost employment. The two sides should intensify bilateral exchanges and cooperation in the fields such as culture, education, media, young people and women, and tamp the social and public opinion foundation for the friendship between the two countries. China is willing to preferentially support Nigeria in breaking three bottlenecks that hamper Nigeria’s industrialization and agricultural modernization including lagging infrastructure, shortage of professionals, and lack of finance. The two Heads of State exchanged views on international and regional issues such as African peace and security, climate change and 2030 sustainable development agenda. The two Heads of State agreed to implement the outcomes of Johannesburg Summit of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation to realize win-win cooperation and common development, and signed a series of cooperative documents in infrastructure, production capacity, investment, aviation, science and technology, finance and other fields. Our two sides will look forward to the future, enhance communication, strengthen coordination, solidly promote the implementation of the consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries, timely translate results of the visit into tangible benefits for the two peoples, and upgrade China-Nigeria strategic partnership to a new level.
After the introduction, a Chinese movie named Phurbu & Tenzin, depicting the backwardness of the old Tibet and the prosperity of the new Tibet, was showed as part of the briefing.