"It is China that has helped Niger to succeed in extracting oil, which fulfills the oil dream of the Nigerien people," said Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Mohamed Bazoum of Niger when meeting with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on February 3rd, 2015 during the former's official visit to China.
It is by no means easy for Niger to become an oil producing country. Located in the hinterland of the Sahara Desert, Niger faces harsh natural conditions with three quarters of its territory being desert, having an annual average temperature of 30℃ which peaks at 50℃. A number of problems such as high-tech demand and grave difficulty in logistics support have to be overcome to explore oil here. Oil companies of other countries did conduct oil exploration here before, but all failed. Before the Chinese came here, the proven deposit of oil in Niger was only 3 million tons.
In 2008, the China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) launched the Agadem Oil Integrated Project in the southeast of Niger. In the following three years, the Chinese workers worked day and night against harsh conditions and built a crude oil development basis with an annual production of 1 million tons, a 462-kilometer oil pipeline and a modern refinery with an annual capacity of 1 million tons in the middle of the vast Sahara Desert. On November 28th, 2011, a ceremony celebrating the Agadem Project coming into production was held in Zinder, the second largest city in Niger, marking that Niger formally became an oil producing country. Nigerien Energy Minister Foumakoye Gado acclaimed exitedly, "this moment will be recorded into the history of Niger! Long live Niger-China cooperation!"
By the end of 2014, with the help of Chinese companies, Niger has produced and processed altogether 2.44 million tons of crude oil, turning from an oil importing country into a surplus oil exporting country. In the process, China has directly or indirectly created over 5000 jobs for the local people in Niger.
The development of China-Niger mutually beneficial cooperation is a showcase of the development of China-Africa cooperation. China-Africa trade has jumped from US$10 billion in 2000 to US$220 billion in 2014. China's investment to Africa has increased from US$500 million in 2000 to US$30 billion. There are now nearly 2.5 million exchange of visits between China and Africa. African countries are working for industrialization and are in earnest need for foreign investment. China is in the process of all-round economic transformation, and a large number of quality industries and capacities need to go overseas. The Chinese and Africa industries are faced with a precious historic opportunity of matching, and China-Africa cooperation comes to a new era for mutually beneficial cooperation.
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Hearing the acclaim of the Nigerien counterpart, Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, "China and Africa need each other for cooperation and development. We have our respective advantages and mean opportunities to one another. China is willing to joint hands with Africa to translate our advantage of traditional friendship into dynamism for cooperation and development, thus helping African countries to turn their advantages in human and natural resources into development results and better benefiting people of China and Africa.
