Visiting Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met with Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on Tuesday before leaving for the Democratic Republic of the Congo as part of the FM’s five-nation week-long Africa tour.
The meeting seemed upbeat, with President Buhari expressing gratitude to the Chinese government for helping to narrow his country’s large infrastructure deficit.
“We thank China for its support to us in various ways; in the building of rail, road, power, defense, and many others,” the president told Wang. “You are helping us to reduce our severe infrastructural deficits, and we are glad.”
None of the contentious issues that roiled China-Nigeria ties in 2020 (debt, Guangzhou, illegal Chinese mining, and so forth) seemed to have been brought up by the two in their meeting.
Earlier in the day, Wang also met with his Nigerian counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama. The two reportedly discussed the procurement of Chinese-made COVID-19 vaccines.
Wang will be in Kinshasa today and will then travel to Tanzania, Botswana, and The Seychelles before returning to China on Saturday.
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