{"id":5944,"date":"2013-07-04T04:25:28","date_gmt":"2013-07-04T04:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/disnaija.com\/nigeria-news\/jonathan-visits-china-next-week\/"},"modified":"2013-07-04T04:25:28","modified_gmt":"2013-07-04T04:25:28","slug":"jonathan-visits-china-next-week","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/disnaija.com\/jonathan-visits-china-next-week\/","title":{"rendered":"Jonathan visits China next week"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Goodluck <\/p>\n

Goodluck Jonathan: set for China tour<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan will visit China next week in a trip aimed at signing infrastructure deals and boosting trade between the Asian power and Africa’s biggest oil producer, officials said Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Nigeria has borrowed money from China to finance infrastructure projects, and Beijing has shown increasing interest in the country’s oil industry.<\/p>\n

Jonathan will during the state visit, which will run from July 9 to 12, meet President Xi Jinping, premier Li Keqiang, some Chinese leaders and businessmen, a statement from his Abuja office said.<\/p>\n

“We want to build trade and economic relationships and we want to have a good exchange of knowledge,” Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told reporters.<\/p>\n

She said that the visit aims to “increase trade, get them to increase investment in Nigeria and get a strategic long-term relationship”.<\/p>\n

“We want to up our trade volume with China of non-oil goods. This is our objective because we want to diversify our economy,” she said.<\/p>\n

Oil accounts for some 80 percent of government revenue in Nigeria.<\/p>\n

Trade and Investment Minister Olusegun Aganga put trade volume between the two countries at $ 13 billion dollars (10 billion euros) in 2012, up from about $ 2 billion in 2005.<\/p>\n

Jonathan and Chinese investors will participate in Nigeria\/China investment forum. He will also hold meetings with executives of Chinese conglomerates such as Huawei, Sinopec and ZTE, the statement said.<\/p>\n

Deals involving loans amounting to some $ 1.3 billion for areas including electricity and airport construction are expected to be signed during the visit.<\/p>\n

The airport projects would be carried out by Chinese firm CCECC, Aviation Minister Stella Oduah said.<\/p>\n

China has invested heavily in African nations in recent years in its search for natural resources and markets for its goods.<\/p>\n

It has had mixed success in Nigeria, particularly concerning oil, where Western firms such as Shell and ExxonMobil continue to dominate.<\/p>\n

Chinese energy firm Addax, owned by Sinopec, has said it was seeking further growth in Nigeria after the recent purchase of a significant offshore stake from France’s Total.<\/p>\n

In February, Addax said it was producing more than 90,000 barrels per day from four licenses in Nigeria, mainly in the shallower offshore areas.<\/p>\n

Nigeria’s total production is around 2.0 million barrels per day.<\/p>\n

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