Buhari to confer with President Xi Jinping on greater Chinese support for Nigeria

President Muhammadu Buhari departs Abuja on Sunday for a 5-day working visit to China, Mr Femi Adesina, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to the president, has said.
Adesina said in a statement issued in Abuja on Saturday that the official visit was aimed at securing greater support from Beijing for the development of Nigeria’s infrastructure, especially in the power, roads, railways, aviation, water supply and housing sectors.
According to the statement, Buhari’s talks with President Xi Jinping, Premier Li Keqiang and the Chairman of the Standing Committee of the National Peoples’ Congress, Zhang Dejiang, will also focus on strengthening bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and China.
It further stated that the talks would be in line with the Federal Government’s agenda for the rapid diversification of the Nigerian economy, with emphasis on agriculture and solid minerals development.
“It is expected that in the course of the visit, several new agreements and memorandums of understanding to boost trade and economic relations between Nigeria and China will be concluded and signed.
“The agreements include a Framework Agreement between the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment and the National Development and Reform Commission of the Peoples’ Republic of China to Boost Industrial Activities and Infrastructural Development in Nigeria.
“Others are a Framework Agreement between the Federal Ministry of Communications and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and a Memorandum of Understanding between Nigeria and China on Scientific and Technological Cooperation,’’ the statement added.
It said that Buhari and his delegation would tour the Shanghai Free Trade Zone and the Guangzhou Economic and Technological Development Zone to gain more useful insights and understanding of the policies that underpinned China’s astronomical economic growth in recent years.
The president, according to the statement, will also open a China-Nigeria Business/Investment Forum in Beijing and meet with members of the Nigerian Community in China.
The statement said the president’s entourage will include some state governors as well as the Ministers of Agriculture; Water Resources; Transportation; Defence; Power, Works and Housing; Industry, Trade and Investment, Federal Capital Territory, Science and Technology and Foreign Affairs.
According to the statement, Buhari will be returning to Abuja at the weekend.