/biz/ - Business & Finance

>New facility unites the economic and demographic giants of Asia and Africa

In November 2010, little-known Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping gave a speech in South Africa promoting the creation of "a new type of China-Africa strategic partnership for a better future."

African leaders had, often loudly, paired China's rapacious appetite for the continent's commodities and return sale of manufactured goods with colonialism.

Hearing their complaints, then Vice President Xi promised his African audience that China would improve the structure of China-Africa trade and seek to both open additional sectors up to trade and identify opportunities to increase exports from African countries.

Some twelve years on, a milestone was reached this month when a Chinese vessel became the first ship to berth at Nigeria's first deep-water port in Lekki that was financed by the China Development Bank.

According to Nigerian Ports Authority managing director Mohammed Bello-Koko, the arrival of the megaship from Shanghai was historic, signifying not only Nigeria's readiness to take trade facilitation a notch higher but also the port's potential to help optimize the African Continental Free Trade Area, a pact connecting 1.3 billion people across 55 countries that the World Bank believes can transform Africa's economies.

Just 60 km east of the world's 15th largest city and Africa's largest metropolis Lagos, the port will increase its container-carrying potential from 3,000 containers to up to 20,000 containers. It will also allow up to 5 megaships to berth at the same time, putting Nigeria light years ahead of what is presently available in alternative Nigerian ports at Tin Can Island and Apapa.

Unlike some of China's more economically isolated port investments in, for example, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, in Nigeria there are two globally significant investments ready to take advantage of the new facilities in Lekki.