Nigeria's Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar Photo: Li Jieyi/GT

The heads of state of China and Nigeria recently decided to elevate their ties to a comprehensive strategic partnership and build a high-level China-Nigeria community with a shared future. Nigeria's Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar told the Global Times in a recent interview that the elevated ties will bring more long-term and in-depth cooperation between the two countries. 

Nigeria is a major economy in Africa and is China's third-largest trading partner and a key destination for investment in the continent. The bilateral economic and trade cooperation between the two countries has achieved fruitful results. 

Tuggar said that Nigeria has engaged in trade of agricultural products such as peanuts and sesame with China. Nigeria and China will continue to deepen cooperation in many other areas, such as the construction of key infrastructure like natural gas pipelines, light rail, railways, and fiber optic cables. 

With the increase in its young population, Nigeria is expected to become an important market for electric vehicles, and the country looks forward to further deepening cooperation with China in this field, he said. 

Tuggar stated that infrastructure construction is an important support for driving development, as it creates jobs, improves the business environment, and is also significant for enhancing the industrial and supply chains. To achieve national development, Nigeria needs to build infrastructure such as roads, railways, power networks, and fiber optic cables. 

China has been supporting Nigeria in improving its infrastructure and promoting regional connectivity, which contributes to the construction of the African continental free trade area, the foreign minister said. "Nigeria is willing to learn from China's experiences in poverty alleviation and hopes to engage in closer cooperation with China to achieve further development."

Tuggar believes Nigeria and China possess significant cooperation potential in the field of artificial intelligence. With a large pool of software engineers and an efficient banking settlement system, Nigeria enjoys a solid foundation for the development of fintech. The two countries can strengthen collaboration in this regard, he said.

The Global South, represented by China and Africa, is thriving and profoundly influencing the course of world history. Tuggar told the Global Times that Nigeria and China are both countries of the Global South, sharing common interests and aspirations. Nigeria also hopes to join the BRICS cooperation mechanism, he said.

He believes the voices of Global South countries need to be heard. Nigeria promotes the voices of Global South countries in the international community, advocating for improved global governance to better meet the needs of all nations.

In addition, the Nigerian Foreign Minister said his country and China can increase communications and exchanges on culture, and educational sectors as well. Many Chinese students are learning Hausa, and many Nigerian students are studying in China. 

He looks forward to more students studying in each other's countries to enhance understanding and friendship between the people of both nations and to contribute to the development of bilateral relations.