President Muhammadu Buhari will on Friday depart for China to participate in the seventh Summit of the Forum on
China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) scheduled to hold on September 3 and 4, 2018,
in Beijing.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media
and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, in a statement said the president's first
engagement in Beijing would be an interactive session with the Nigerian
community in China at the Nigerian embassy.
According to
him, before the formal opening of the FOCAC summit, Buhari, in his capacity as
the current Chairman of Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),
will deliver a speech at the high-level dialogue between Chinese and African
leaders, business representatives and African entrepreneurs.
He also said the president is scheduled to join
Chinese President, Xi Jinping, and other African leaders at the opening and
roundtable sessions of 2018 FOCAC Beijing Summit with the theme: ‘Towards an
even Stronger China-Africa Community with a shared Future’.
Shehu also said after the FOCAC summit, Buhari will
hold bilateral meetings with Jinping and Chinese Prime Minister, Li Keqiang, to
discuss infrastructure financing for strategic projects in Nigeria and the
upgrading of Nigeria-China relations “from strategic partnership to
comprehensive strategic partnership.”
The presidential aide also said Buhari would use
the occasion of his audience with the Chinese leadership to assess the progress
made so far in Chinese interventions in Nigeria’s key priority infrastructure
projects, particularly the on-going projects in the railway and power sectors.
He added: "It is noteworthy that since the
last FOCAC VI summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in December 2015-the first
attended by the Nigerian leader-and his successful state visit to China in
April 2016, the current administration has pushed forward practical cooperation
with China in the areas of infrastructure construction, trade, investments,
finance, power, agriculture, education cooperation, among others.
"It
would be recalled that President Buhari has consistently acknowledged Chinese
support for infrastructure development in Nigeria."
Shehu recalled that in January 2018, while
receiving the Board of Directors of the Nigeria Economic Summit Group, the
president said: "We send our gratitude to the Chinese for all their
support to Nigeria. Since independence, no country has helped our country on
infrastructural development like China. In some projects, the Chinese help us
with 85 percent payment and soft loans that span 20 years. No country has done
that for us.’’
According to the statement, Buhari will be
accompanied to Beijing by his wife, Aisha, who is scheduled to participate in a
‘Spouses’ Programme’ on China-Africa at the Great Hall of the People, with the
theme: ‘Joining Hands for a Future of AIDS’.
Others listed to be part of the trip are Governors
Mohammed Abubakar, Akinwunmi Ambode, Mohammed Abubakar and Rochas Okorocha of
Bauchi, Lagos, Jigawa and Imo States respectively.
Also joining the trip are Senators Abdullahi Adamu,
George Akume, Godswill Akpabio and Aliyu Wamakko who represent Nasarawa, Benue,
Akwa Ibom and Sokoto States respectively in the Senate.
Others are the Minister of Foreign Affairs,
Geoffrey Onyeama; Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi; Minister of Power,
Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; Minister of Federal Capital Territory
(FCT), Muhammad Bello; Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Okechukwu
Enelamah; Minister of Budget and National Planning, Udoma Udo Udoma; Minister
of Water Resources, Suleiman Adamu; Minister of State, Petroleum Resources, Ibe
Kachikwu, and Minister of State for Aviation, Hadi Sirika.
Also going with the president are the National
Security Adviser, Babagana Monguno; Director General, National Intelligence
Agency, Ahmed Abubakar, and the Group Managing Director of the Nigeria National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Maikanti Baru.
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