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"closer cooperation with china" (china-africa cooperation in the new era·high-level interview)

——interview with nigerian foreign minister yusuf tugar

recently, the heads of state of china and nigeria unanimously decided to upgrade china-nigeria relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership and build a high-level china-nigeria community with a shared future. in an interview with reporters, nigerian foreign minister yusuf tugar said that the improvement of nigeria-china relations indicates that the two countries will carry out longer-term and deeper cooperation in more areas.

nigeria is a major economy in africa and china's third largest trading partner and major investment destination in africa. the bilateral economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has achieved fruitful results. tugar introduced that nigeria has carried out trade in agricultural products such as peanuts and sesame with china. in the future, nigeria and china can also deepen cooperation in many areas, such as the construction of key infrastructure such as natural gas pipelines, light rail, railways, and optical fiber cables. with the increase of young population, nigeria is expected to become an important electric vehicle market, and nigeria also looks forward to further deepening cooperation with china in this field.

tugar said that infrastructure construction is an important support for promoting development. it can create jobs, improve the business environment, and is also of great significance to improving the industrial chain and supply chain. in order to achieve national development, nigeria needs to build roads, railways, power networks, fiber optic cables and other infrastructure. china supports nigeria in improving infrastructure and promoting regional connectivity, which will help the construction of the african continental free trade area. "nigeria is willing to learn from china's experience in poverty reduction and hopes to work more closely with china to achieve further development."

tugar believes that nigeria and china also have great potential for cooperation in the field of artificial intelligence. nigeria has a large team of software engineers and an efficient bank settlement system, which provides a solid foundation for the development of financial technology. the two countries can strengthen cooperation in this field.

the booming global south represented by china and africa has profoundly influenced the course of world history. tugar said that nigeria and china are both countries in the global south and share common interests and aspirations. nigeria hopes to join the brics cooperation mechanism. he believes that the voices of the global south need to be heard. nigeria actively promotes the voices of the global south in the international community and advocates improving global governance to better meet the needs of various countries.

tugar said that nigeria and china can also strengthen exchanges and sharing in the fields of culture and education. many chinese students are learning hausa, and many nigerian students are studying in china. he hopes that more students will study in each other's countries to enhance the understanding and friendship between the two peoples and contribute to the development of bilateral relations.

global times reporter li meng and liu caiyu

people's daily (september 13, 2024, page 17)