ABUJA, Sept. 4 (Xinhua) -- Local experts in Nigeria have urged the government to enhance cultural ties with China, using the mechanisms provided by the ongoing Beijing Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC).
At a seminar in Abuja to discuss the agenda of the ongoing FOCAC Beijing summit late Monday, the experts said, as a potent tool for peaceful co-existence, culture and tourism will play a major role in the implementation of the new eight major initiatives which China announced with African countries.
The eight major initiatives with African countries include fields such as industrial promotion, infrastructure and connectivity, people-to-people cooperation, trade facilitation, and green development, in the next three years and beyond.
Under the new people-to-people initiative, Nigeria needs to strengthen its culture and tourism cooperation with China, said Otunba Olusegun Runsewe, head of the National Council for Arts and Culture in Nigeria.
"Culture is the biggest and best asset to promote peace in a very diplomatic manner," Runsewe said at the event organized by the China Alumni Association of Nigeria.
Mallam Abdullahi Idris, a senior lecturer at the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa in Nigeria's central region, said there are vast opportunities in strengthening culture and tourism cooperation between the two countries.
"The opportunities are too numerous to mention. Tourism and culture will enhance people-to-people cooperation between us (China and Nigeria) because the two countries have a lot in common and a lot to share," Idris said.
Mohammed Suleiman, president of the China Alumni Association of Nigeria which boasts of over 5,000 members, said China and Nigeria can further deepen people-to-people cooperation for future development through cultural exchange and integration programs.
