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Nigerian President Pledges to Enhance Cooperation With China
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has pledged to further enhance bilateral cooperation with China, which has been playing an important role in international arena.
"China is the biggest developing country in the world, while Nigeria is the biggest in Africa, it is by no means to over-emphasize the importance of the need to consolidate and push forward the cooperation between the two countries," said Obasanjo when he met on Saturday with visiting Chinese vice-minister of Foreign Trade and Economic cooperation Sun Guangxiang.
While being briefed on the preparatory progress of the forthcoming Sino-African Forum, scheduled to open in October in Beijing, China, Obasanjo said African countries, with a diversity of political and economic systems, are facing the challenges of developing their economies to catch up with the trend of world globalization.
The Forum provided a venue for African countries to find ways to further develop the existing friendly relationship with China, said the president, adding that Nigerian government would be actively engaged to make it a successful one.
President Obasanjo had personally sent messages to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, pledging that the Nigerian government would actively involve itself into the Forum.
During the meeting, Sun Guangxiang conveyed the messages and good wishes of President Jiang Zemin and Premier Zhu Rongji to President Obasanjo.
Sun said his visit to Nigeria was specially focused upon briefing the Nigerian government about the preparatory progress of the Forum and solicit opinions and suggestions about the draft documents for the Forum.
Sun said China spoke highly of Nigeria's leading role in maintaining the peace and stability in the sub-region and believed that the scheduled Forum could not be a success without the active support of the vast majority of African countries including Nigeria.
He stressed that China has been paying special attention to enhancing the existing good relationship with African countries, both politically and economically.
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