Vice President Kashim Shettima would represent President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the 3rd Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Forum scheduled to hold from 16th to 18th of October, 2023, in Beijing, China.
Shettima would join world leaders from over 130 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America at the forum to deliberate on the theme, “High-quality Belt and Road Cooperation: Together for Common Development and Prosperity.”
The vice president is expected to avail Nigeria of the platform provided by the forum to woo investors for more developmental projects.
He is also billed to hold bilateral meetings with other world leaders to promote Nigeria’s trade and investment relations in line with the economic development agenda of the Tinubu administration.
The 2023 edition would mark the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative championed by the President of China, Xi Jinping, as an initiative for global infrastructure development strategy.
Launched by the government of the People’s Republic of China in 2013, the initiative seeks international action to enhance cooperation and promote infrastructure investment in nearly 70 countries across Asia, Africa and Europe through land and maritime routes.
In 2018, the then President Muhammadu Buhari signed the Belt and Road cooperation agreement with China.
Nigeria and other partner-countries across the world are to benefit from the initiative in areas of infrastructure investments such as ports, skyscrapers, railroads, roads, bridges, airports, dams and coal-fired power stations.
The delegation of the Vice President to the Belt and Road Initiative Forum includes the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Yusuf M. Tuggar; the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Sen. Atiku Abubakar Bagudu; the Minister of Transportation, Senator Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali; the Minister of Works, Sen. David Umahi; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Nkiruka Uzoka-Anite; the Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Corporation, Fidet Okhiria, and the Director-General, Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission, Michael Ohiani.
