Lagos — REPUBLIC of China and Lagos state, Nigeria have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Friendship City and Industrial Park, with heavy concentration on education, housing and infrastructure.

According to the Vice Chairman of the Chinese Parliament, Mr. Liu Longzhu who led the Chinese team to the state secretariat, Alausa Ikeja yesterday, the MoU would enable the Chinese government invest in China City and China Industrial Park.

Assisted by the Consul General of the Chinese Embassy in the country, Mr. Guo Kunn to sign for China, Longzhu said that the new relationship would enable the creation of wealth through investment in waste management, education, housing and infrastructures and other areas that might interest the delegation.

The Commissioners for Physical Planning and Urban Development and his counterpart in Environment, Messrs. Abosede Francesco and Muiz Banire respectively signed for Lagos state government.

Longzhu said that his state, Chongqing not only boast of 31 million people., "It also played a very prominent role in the development of the China," while urging the commissioners to pay visit to Chongqing based on the Chinese tradition of, "seeing is believing."

Earlier, Francesco told the delegation that with the global economic meltdown, Nigeria remains the best economy for investment, noting that Merill Lynch, a global investment management outfit recently rated Nigeria as the best economy for investment in the world.

According to him, "The same organisation also gave Lagos "A" rating ahead of other cities for any investment based on track records of management of funds from international organisations and investment climate," presenting to the delegation a detailed statistics which any business community could rely on before taking any business decision.

He listed waste management, housing, transportation including ferry services and the proposed 10-lane international expressway from Eric More to Badagry incorporating light rails in the middle as attractive areas for investment.