Nigeria including developing nations to have more opportunities from Belt and Road Forum: Expert

The second Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation would strengthen international development and create more opportunities for developing countries, including Nigeria, a Chinese diplomat said on Tuesday.

Speaking to reporters in Lagos, Nigeria's economic hub, on the outcome of the second Belt and Road Forum (BRF), which was wrapped up in Beijing over a week ago, acting Chinese Consul General in Lagos Guan Zhongqi said that Nigeria, Africa's most populous nation, has a strategic role to play in the Belt and Road Initiative.

Proposed by China in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative is a transcontinental long-term policy and investment program which aims at infrastructure development and acceleration of the economic integration of countries along the routes of the historic Silk Road, Xinhua noted.

The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) opens up new opportunities for Nigeria and China, which maintain traditional cooperation, Guan said, noting that the Beijing gathering has great potential and is beneficial to both countries. "The BRI reflects China's determination to promote an all-round pattern of opening up, and deepening of our reform and opening up," he said.

China's new reform and opening up measures will help expand foreign market access in a broader area, strengthen international cooperation on intellectual property rights protection, increase imports of goods and services on a larger scale, and effectively implement international macro-economic policies, the diplomat told reporters. According to him, China's opening-up policy will provide greater opportunities for Belt and Road cooperation and promote win-win prosperity for all countries, as reported by Xinhua.

Guan said the second BRF is one of China's most important diplomatic events this year with the significance of building an open world economy, building the Belt and Road from a strategic perspective.

Also Read: Protests, shutdown hit Aiteo’s Nembe oil facility in Nigeria