The Xinhua News Agency on Wednesday expressed its readiness to strengthen partnership with the News Agency of Nigeria through exchange of news to further deepen the relationship between China and Nigeria.
Li Wenfei, Deputy Director-General of Xinhua in Africa, said this when he led the agency’s delegation to pay a courtesy visit to the Acting Managing Director of NAN, Abdulhadi Khalil, in Abuja.
Wenfei said that NAN and Xinhua had established a mutual relationship in terms of news exchange, but more could be done to deepen the relationship between the two agencies.
According to him, there is the need to sign a new agreement and upgrade cooperation between them in other fields of media operations.
He said: “We are here today to hear from NAN on how we can improve our two media relations and also upgrade our agreement.
“Xinhua has now become multimedia with audio, video, photos and so on.
“I believe NAN also has a modern media platform, which calls for an upgrade.
“There is a need for us to sign another agreement so that we can exchange news beyond the normal text to audio, visuals and many other fields.”
The Deputy Director-General said that the upgrade would be centred on educating the public more about events that happened in both countries.
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According to Wenfei, it will also provide opportunities for the audience not just to read news content, but see and hear events as they happen in both countries.
Responding, Khalil assured Wenfei of NAN’s readiness to partner Xinhua as it broadens its scope.
According to him, NAN has also broadened its horizon to suit International best practices.
He said: “We have realised the importance of deepening our cooperation because China has been making a positive impact in Africa, not only in Nigeria.
“We will be very active and serious in this partnership because we are not only serving Nigeria and Africa alone, but the world at large.
“We have had some of our reporters trained through scholarships, training programmes in China and other areas of development, and we believe it will still continue.
“Chinese journalists can also have exchange programmes here in Nigeria to learn more about our people and culture among other things, so that both sides will benefit,” he said.
Meanwhile, Guo Jun, West African Director of Xinhua and outgoing Bureau Chief in Nigeria, thanked NAN for the support it rendered throughout his five years tenure in Nigeria.
He described NAN as Xinhua’s most trusted and valid partner due to its credibility.
Jun said: “NAN is our most valuable partner because we are the official media of our respective countries, so we owe the public the responsibility to educate and inform them through credible information.
“We are also responsible for credible reporting in order to put an end to fake news.
“With this visit, I believe this will bring elevation in our relationship and steps towards curbing fake news.”
Jun said that arrangement had been put in place to organise a high-level forum towards commemorating the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative by mid-October.
He said: “Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Bola Tinubu will attend the ceremony.
“So, we will elevate this partnership pending implementation of agreement between Xinhua and NAN at the presidential level, during the forum.”
Xinhua News Agency, the largest media organ and official state news agency of the People’s Republic of China, was founded in 1931.
Xinhua is a publisher as well as a news agency that publishes in multiple languages and is a channel for the distribution of information related to the Chinese Government and the ruling Chinese Communist Party.
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