Federal Government has reaffirmed its commitment to making China’s zero-tariff policy a foundation for industrialisation, job creation and shared prosperity in Nigeria.

This is as it welcomed China’s decision to extend the zero-tariff treatment to 100 per cent of tariff lines for African countries.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Bianca Odumegwu-Ojukwu, stated this in a message at an international seminar organised by the Centre for China Studies in Abuja, at the weekend.

She described the initiative as a major opportunity to accelerate industrialisation, create jobs and drive structural economic transformation across the continent.

The seminar, with the theme, ‘China’s Zero-Tariff Treatment on 100 per cent of Tariff Lines for African Countries and its Implications for Structural Economic Transformation in Africa’, examined the opportunities and challenges arising from China’s expanded market access for African products.

The Minister commended the Centre for China Studies and the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China for convening the seminar, describing the zero-tariff policy as a historic development that could help shift Africa-China relations from a focus on “aid and loans” towards “trade and production.”

She described duty-free access to the Chinese market of about 1.4 billion people as a “game-changer” for Nigeria’s agro-processing, textiles, solid minerals and manufacturing sectors.

She said the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC) and other relevant agencies were prepared to work with Chinese investors to establish factories in Nigeria to produce goods for export to China.