Mao Weiming, deputy secretary of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and governor of Hunan Province, met in Changsha with Yusuf Maitama Tuggar, minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, on the afternoon of June 11, 2025.

Also attending were Zhang Yingchun, member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Hunan Provincial Committee and executive vice governor of Hunan Province, and Qu Hai, secretary general of the People's Government of Hunan Province.

Governor Mao meets with Nigeria's Foreign Minister Yusuf Maitama Tuggar.

Located in southeastern part of West Africa, Nigeria is currently Africa's largest economy, with Abuja as its capital. The country has become the largest oil producer in Africa, taking the lead in reserves of oil, natural gas, and coal. In June 2019, Hunan Province and the state of Jigawa in Nigeria established a friendship province-state relationship. This April, Zhuzhou City inked a letter of intent to establish a friendship city-state relationship with the state of Kogi in Nigeria.

The meeting.

Governor Mao welcomed the minister to attend the Fourth China-Africa Economic and Trade Expo in Changsha and briefly introduced conditions in Hunan Province. He noted that although Hunan and Nigeria are thousands of miles apart, both sides share a long history of friendly exchanges. Both sides have a good foundation and broad prospects for cooperation in agriculture, construction machinery, and other sectors. From January to April of this year, the import and export volume between Hunan and Nigeria amounted to 220 million USD, of which imports from Nigeria increased by 92% year on year.

The governor expressed the hope that both sides may jointly implement the outcomes of the Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), further deepening communication and exchanges. Efforts should be made to actively build a collaboration  that highlights economy and trade while ushering in prosperity in such fields as modern agriculture, infrastructure, healthcare and cultural tourism. We should promote alignment in resources, mutual integration of industries, and common development for mutual benefit, contributing to the China-Nigeria comprehensive strategic partnership, he added.

Minister Tuggar responded that Hunan is the hometown of Chairman Mao Zedong, with a profound historical heritage and a vibrant economy. The province is an important strategic region for Nigeria in developing its friendly relationship with China. Nigeria is willing to strengthen communication and cooperation with Hunan in the fields of agriculture, infrastructure construction, culture, and tourism, as well as in the establishment of special economic zones. The minister also called for jointly advancing the full implementation of the outcomes achieved at the FOCAC Beijing Summit, so as to boost the everlasting friendship between the two countries.

Photos taken by Liu Shangwen.

This article is from the Hunan Provincial Government www.enghunan.gov.cn. 

Translator: Yu Jiangjiang

Chinese source: hunan.gov.cn