The government of China has said it will collaborate with Nigeria in the fight against money laundering and terrorism funding.
A joint statement released by both countries said the agreement is targeted at aiding Nigeria’s efforts to safeguard the stability of its financial and foreign exchange markets and squash financial crimes.
The agreement happened after a meeting between President Bola Tinubu and President Xi Jinping of China on Tuesday.
When the meeting ended, both presidents signed several memoranda of understanding (MoUs), which included a cooperation plan between Nigeria and China to conjointly promote the belt and road initiative.
As contained in the joint statement, both countries are looking at regional and monetary cooperation, as well as encouraging flexible and diverse cooperation which includes local currency swaps to facilitate trade between China and Nigeria and contribute to global financial stability.
“Both countries agreed to support Nigeria’s geographical and development advantage in West Africa to establish Africa’s flagship projects on cross-national and cross-regional cooperation,” the statement reads.
“They also agreed to deepen cooperation on the infrastructure connectivity between the two countries.
“China proactively supports Nigeria in developing its domestic infrastructure construction, including transportation, ports, and free trade zones, towards achieving integrated development and connectivity for industries.
“The two countries agree to carry out international cooperation on financial intelligence on anti-monetary laundering/countering the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) and support Nigeria’s efforts to safeguard the order of its financial and foreign exchange markets and to crack down on financial crimes, including money laundering.”