From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja

President Muhammadu Buhari cherishes and values highly, Nigeria’s relationship with China, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, has said.

He stated this when he received in audience the Vice Minister of Information of State Council, People’s Republic of China, Mr. Guo Weimin who was on an official visit to Nigeria.

According to him, the fact that the Nigerian president cherishes the cooperation between Nigeria and China means there will always be areas of mutual cooperation between the two countries from which their media organisations should profit.

Adesina reiterated the readiness of the presidential media team to build on the existing relationship while also exploring other areas of cooperation.

He further assured Weimin that the presidential media office will work closely with the Ministry of Information to explore areas where the agreements signed during the visit will enhance the interests of the Nigerian media in particular and the Nigerian government in general.

Earlier, Weimin had earlier informed Adesina that he led a team of other officials of the Chinese government to explore areas of exchange of ideas towards deepening the relationship between the Chinese and the Nigerian media industry.

He mentioned New Media, transparency in governance, broadcast communication and socio-cultural values as areas in which they hope to share ideas with their Nigerian counterparts.

He also acknowledged that Presidential spokesmen have a big role to play in deepening this relationship and therefore solicits the cooperation of Adesina in that regard.

Weimin also said that his delegation had interacted with a broad spectrum of Nigerian media professionals to hear first-hand from them their expectations from the visit of the Chinese.