Remain true to our original aspiration and keep moving forward - Grand opening of the 2017 Nigeria (Lagos) China Commodity Fair

The timeless Chinese style and dazzling Chinese red symbolize the enduring strength and forward momentum of Chinese enterprises on the fertile land of Africa!

Consul General Chao Xiaoliang of the Chinese Consulate General in Lagos delivered an opening speech

Consul General Chao Xiaoliang introduced that Nigeria has a significant influence in West Africa and even in Sub-Saharan Africa. Nigeria's oil production ranks tenth in the world, natural gas ranks approximately twelfth, and iron ore production ranks seventh or eighth. Nigeria is a country rich in resources. In addition to mineral resources, agricultural and forest resources are also abundant. Before the discovery of oil, Nigeria's palm oil production ranked first in the world. The British colonized Nigeria precisely because they valued its palm oil. Currently, Nigeria, especially Lagos, has abundant water resources. The decline in international oil prices in the past two years has had a significant impact on Nigeria's economy. Last year and the year before, Nigeria's economy officially entered a recession. To change the single economic structure, the government introduced an Economic Recovery and Growth Plan in March this year, determined to promote economic diversification and quickly improve investment and trade facilitation. This year, Nigeria's economy has recovered, especially the depreciation of its currency has been curbed. Last year, one US dollar exchanged for Naira was 525, and this year it returned to 360. In the earliest days, 1 Naira was worth more than 1 Euro.

Consul General Chao Xiaoliang stated that Nigeria is now in a period of economic transformation, which also provides new development opportunities for Chinese enterprises to conduct investment and trade activities there. Nigeria is currently China's largest engineering contracting partner, and many of our large engineering contracting enterprises are basically developing here. It is the second largest export market,   the third largest trading partner and the third largest investment destination country. In the first 8 months, the trade volume reached approximately 9 billion US dollars. The trade volume between China and Nigeria has shown significant growth against the backdrop of Nigeria's economic recovery. Even during Nigeria's darkest economic period last year, China's investment in Nigeria still increased by 27%, which indicates that Nigeria is a very important target for Chinese enterprises to "go global" and carry out production capacity cooperation.

Shandong Zhenghe staff photo with Consul General Chao Xiaoliang

Lagos Chamber of Commerce President Speech by Nike Akande

Lagos Chamber of Commerce President Speech by Nike Akande