Nigeria Welcomes More Investment From China: President

Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo has expressed satisfaction with the economic relations between his country and China, welcoming more Chinese entrepreneurs to invest in the West African country.

In a recent exclusive interview with Xinhua at the presidential villa in the capital Abuja, Obasanjo said he is satisfied with the developing trend, which saw a further enhancement of business cooperation and increasing trade between the two countries in the past two years.

Official statistics show that the volume of bilateral trade reached a record high of more than 850 million U.S. dollars last year.

Obasanjo, who is going to pay a state visit to China later August, said the relationship between Nigeria and China has been cordial and warm since the two countries established diplomatic relations 30 years ago.

Such a relationship is getting a firmer ground in the fields of bilateral cooperation over the past two years, he said.

Obasanjo said Nigeria welcomes more Chinese business people to come to Nigeria to seek investment in it, pledging that "any Chinese investors who have met with problems in Nigeria could come directly to me".

During the interview, Obasanjo also spoke highly of great achievements that China has made in various fields.

He said he is very much interested in what he called a "miracle " that China has been able to feed its huge population of 1.3 billion people.

The miracle that a country like China with one quarter of the world population is able to feed itself should never be underestimated, he stressed.

Noting that Nigeria is struggling to feed its own population of about 140 million people, Obasanjo said: "We would like China to teach us how to fish rather than give us a fish".

With its huge amount of human resources and fast developing economy, he said, it is no wonder that China will become a leading country of the 21st century.

Referring to the Taiwan issue, Obasanjo reiterated the Nigerian government's consistent stand, saying that it supports and will always support the one-China policy.

He said: "We are faithful to the unity of the country, so we know what it means when a country is divided and we cannot tolerate the division of the country." That's why Nigeria supports the one-China policy.

On the human rights issue, Obasanjo agreed that the right of existence is the most fundamental right of human being among all others. "Without the right of existence, how can we talk about the fundamental human rights?"

He expressed the belief that a country whose people's human rights are well protected and preserved is a country like China which can feed itself and is working for the welfare and well- being of its people.

"We must be very careful in judging a country about violations of fundamental human rights," the president added.

Obasanjo, who visited China for several times in the past, will begin his state visit to China at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Jiang Zemin from August 26 to 29. This will be his first state visit to China since his inauguration in May 1999.






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