The Federal Government has called on Chinese government to establish model cultural centers across the six geopolitical zones to attract tourism and local hospitality associated with Nigeria culture.
The Deputy Director, Cultural Development of the Federal Ministry of Information & Culture, Reverend Anama Imbenagu, made the call at the launch of 2022 Chinese Cultural Week in Abuja.
He said: “When celebrating Chinese cultural and tourism week in Abuja, others will also be celebrating in the hinterland and it will give China the opportunity to further interact and understand the local hospitality Nigerians are known for.”
Meanwhile, the Cultural Counselor of the Chinese Embassy and Director of China Cultural Centre, Li Xuda, described Culture and Tourism as important contributors to the strategic partnership between Nigeria and China.
Xuda further said that culture and Tourism also play greater roles in increasing the people-to-people connectivity for the benefit of the two countries.
The Director of the cultural center noted that, what the two countries have already achieved is a good start to a greater future
He maintained that the cooperation in terms of Tourism and Culture between the two countries led to the bilateral agreement signed this year to encourage more cooperation in the field of tourism, stressing that the agreement focused mainly on exchange programmes, human capacity building, joint marketing and investment among others.
“At the beginning of this year, we heard another good news: Nigeria and China signed a joint Culture and Tourism Statute and inaugurated a sub-committee that would further strengthen bilateral cooperation between both countries.
China’ s Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism, Mr. Zhang Xu while recalling that Nigeria and China have enjoyed good bilateral relations in the past 50 years, noted that culture and tourism have played critical roles in strengthening the ties’. He siad
The director encouraged the two countries to continue to work together in pushing forward the cooperation in many field to achieve a brighter future.
In a goodwill message, the Director, Environment and Eco tourism of the ministry of Information and Culture, Mrs Patricia Joseph noted that Nigeria and China have several things in common in terms of population, culture and food among others, saying that China has gone ahead as a result of technological advancement.
She called on investors to come into the country and invest more to help in the development of the natural resources, encouraging the Federal Government to give more political will for the growth of tourism in Nigeria.
On his part, the founder and director of Youth Tourism Development Organization, Emmanuel Okon appreciated the activeness of the director since 2019 for promoting Nigeria and Chinese culture.
He noted that over 50 years bilateral relationship enjoyed by the two countries have provided a lot of experience to learn and adopt the good work of Chinese government.