(AFP) – Feb 28, 2008

BEIJING (AFP) — The presidents of resource-hungry China and oil-rich Nigeria met Thursday ahead of the planned signing of energy deals in Beijing's latest overture to an African nation.

President Umaru Yar'Adua met with China's Hu Jintao in Beijing as part of a four-day trip that officials said was expected to add momentum to a bilateral trade partnership that tripled in value in the three years to 2006.

"I'm confident that your current visit to China will further our practical cooperation in various fields and take our strategic cooperation to a new level," Hu told the Nigerian leader in their meeting at the Great Hall of the People, the seat of power in China.

During talks, Hu proposed deepening political relations between the two countries while also expanding economic and trade ties, especially in the energy realm, China Central Television said.

The two nations should advance exchanges of personnel at all levels and work better to cooperate on international issues, he said.

On the first full day of his trip, Yar'Adua also had a scheduled meeting with Premier Wen Jiabao in the late afternoon, with Nigeria's vast deposits of oil and gas topping the agenda.

Ahead of the trip, Nigerian presidential spokesman Olusegun Adeniyi said the visit was aimed primarily at reinforcing economic cooperation, "particularly in the oil and gas sector."

He said the two sides would "sign agreements on energy-related matters." Oil Minister Odein Adjumogobia is part of the Nigerian delegation. Details of the deals signed were not immediately available.

Yar'Adua's visit to China, his first since assuming the presidency last year, underlines a deepening relationship between Beijing and Lagos that has been dominated by trade in oil.

Trade between Nigeria and China reached 3.13 billion dollars in 2006, up from 1.1 billion dollars in 2001, according to the latest data from China's commerce ministry.

Aside from oil deals with Nigeria, China has helped the country build railways and hydroelectric dams, while last year it launched a telecommunications satellite for the nation.

Chinese media last month also reported that state-controlled China Development Bank was in talks to buy a five-billion-dollar stake in Nigeria-based United Bank for Africa.

China's Nigeria interests are part of a deeper push across Africa that has drawn criticism in the West that Beijing was overlooking human rights and political abuses on the continent in its hunger for natural resources.

China-Africa trade is estimated to have increased 10-fold to 55.5 billion dollars in 2006 compared to 1999, according to the most recent official Chinese figures.

China, which imports about 30 percent of its oil needs from Africa, insists both sides stand to gain and has consistently defended itself against the criticism.

"China has a responsible attitude towards its cooperation with Africa, we are devoted to establishing a mutually beneficial and win-win relationship and trying to promote peace and development there," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said last week in announcing Yar'Adua's visit.

"The cooperation between China and Africa is widely applauded by the African people."

One of China's most controversial partnerships is with the government of Sudan, which is involved in a brutal civil war that the United Nations says has led to the deaths of over 200,000 people.

But while noting there are "many problems" with China's Africa strategy, longtime China observer David Zweig said there was much goodwill on the continent towards Beijing, particularly for the help in building infrastructure.

"China tends to be fairer than Western countries, and without any demands for political and economic reform," said Zweig, a professor at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

"China is very popular in Africa," he said.

Some of the perils of China's presence in Nigeria have been made clear in recent years, however, as Chinese oil and infrastructure workers have been targeted in abductions by separatist groups in the oil-rich Niger river delta.

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