CHINA: Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan meets President Xi Jinping in Beijing in a visit aimed at securing millions of dollars in Chinese loans

Record ID: 236145

  • Title: CHINA: Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan meets President Xi Jinping in Beijing in a visit aimed at securing millions of dollars in Chinese loans
  • Date: 10th July 2013
  • Summary: BEIJING, CHINA (JULY 10, 2013) (AGENCY POOL) MEETING IN PROGRESS XI SPEAKING CHINESE DELEGATES SEATED JONATHAN SPEAKING NIGERIAN DELEGATES SEATED MEETING IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 25th July 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: China
  • Country: China
  • Topics: General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAD0ML737PKQDMEOVFLFD6VTYMY
  • Story Text: Chinese President Xi Jinping held a welcome ceremony for his Nigerian counterpart Goodluck Jonathan in Beijing on Wednesday (July 10), followed by a bilateral meeting and signing ceremony.
    The talks, aimed at boosting bilateral ties, were carried out with both Nigerian and Chinese delegations.
    Jonathan and Xi also oversaw the signing of several bilateral agreements between the two countries.
    Nigeria's finance minister said last week that during his visit, President Jonathan would sign off on three billion USD in Chinese loans to build infrastructure in Africa's most populous country.
    The agreed loans would come from the Chinese government and would be based on interest rates of less than three percent over a 15-20 year period, Minister of Finance Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala said.
    Okonjo-Iweala said the delegation travelling to China would also be discussing China's interest in oil from Nigeria, an OPEC member and Africa's top producer.
    The deal underscores increasing Chinese interest in Africa and its resources, in competition with Western powers.
    China has made a string of cheap loans in the past few years to countries in Africa, a continent which supplies oil and raw materials like copper and uranium to the world's most populous country and second-largest economy.
    Jonathan is expected to leave China on Friday (July 12).
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