THE ASSESSMENT OF CHINESE COMMERCIAL DIPLOMACY AND INVESTMENT IN AFRICA: NIGERIA CASE STUDY

This paper investigates Chinese Commercial Diplomacy and investment in Nigeria. The paper shows that Commercial Diplomacy is a movement led by state delegates with political status in perspective on business advancement between a home and a host nation. The study employed qualitative research techniques whereby none of the present literature focuses on validating the findings quantitatively. The findings of the study revealed that China-Africa trade 2018 was $185 bn, up from $155 bn in 2017. In 2018, the biggest exporter to China from Africa was Angola, trailed by South Africa and the Republic of Congo, South Africa was the biggest purchaser of Chinese merchandise, trailed by Nigeria and Egypt. China's FDI in Africa is firmly connected to trade and improvement help. FDI has expanded in the course of recent years couple with expanded Sino-African trade, in spite of the fact that China's FDI to Africa stays minor as far as China's all out outward FDI flows (0.2% in 1991 and 5.9% in 2007) and all out FDI got by Africa from the remainder of the world (3% in 2007). The study concludes that Nigeria-China bilateral trade Nigeria-China two-sided trade has stayed low particularly before the consenting to two-sided trade arrangement. The study recommends that China needs to adjust its policies to assuage concerns of Nigeria and put the Sino-African relationship on a more balanced footing and legislature should attempt to draw in remote ventures from China to segments.Historically, Commercial diplomatic activities can be dated back to the Roman Empire whereby Diplomatic missions have long been used as a tool to improve relations to other states around the world (Berridge, 2002).Today, commercial diplomacy activities, is a common behavior by developed countries (Kostecki and Naray, 2007). There is an increasing focus on commercial diplomacy, which can be related to the global economic stagnation and the decreasing growth many countries experience domestically (Justinek, 2012). Diplomatic activities may occur on the global level (respective, district or multilateral) or inside the host state (for instance, relations with government divisions, government employees, parliament, NGOs, business associations, partnerships, etc). Business discretion is a taxpayer driven organization to the business network, which focuses on the improvement of social advantageous worldwide undertakings. In some countries, commercial diplomacy has become a core part of the overall diplomatic corps, and it targets empowering business development. It focuses on a progression of activities so as to advance and encourage universal business. These exercises have been distinguished and ordered by various researchers. Naray recognizes six sorts of activities: Intelligence, Communication, referral, advocacy, co-ordination and logistics (Gray, Julia and Philip Potter. 2015).The 2018 Beijing Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) summit was the mark occasion that decided China's needs toward Africa for the following three years. Veering off from its convention of multiplying or significantly increasing its money related promises, China's dedication continued as before as in 2015, $60 billion. In light of its volume and organization, China's responsibility stays solid, yet seems, by all accounts, to be more mindful and ascertaining than its past promises (Biggeri, &Sanfilippo, 2015). The concessionality of the Chinese financing is being directed, while China has become unmistakably increasingly centered on the business and feasibility perspectives. From the conventional model of "assets for foundation," China gives off an impression of being transforming toward the following stage: value venture by a progressively various gathering of financial specialists upheld by state advancement fund. In the meantime, Africa despite everything has significant getting up to speed to do to acquire Chinese speculation and to enhance its trade relations with China (Jandhyala, Srividya and Robert Weiner. 2014).For sure, what China offers Africa is certifiably not an unlimited free pass and an ensured outcome. Rather, Beijing offers Africa the chance to accelerate its financial improvement dependent on the framework China creates, to use the innovations, business, and market openings China makes, and to animate the craving and rivalry for development through market-based as opposed to help based methodology. The Chinese financing is neither free nor unselfish. In any case, that isn't the point. China's interest in Africa is still at the beginning times contrasted and that of key European nations that have a provincial past in Africa, particularly France and the UK. İt is mentionable that the FDI stocks sourced separately from the UK and France into Africa are each still bigger than the stock sourced from China (Lin, & Farrell, 2013)