LAGOS - China encourages more Chinese enterprises to expand investment in Nigeria's manufacturing sector, transfer technologies and train personnel to increase local job opportunities, Chinese Commerce Minister Gao Hucheng said on Wednesday.

Nigeria has a huge population and consumer market, while China has an edge in the processing industry, Gao told Xinhua.

The two countries can further deepen bilateral cooperation in areas like textile, garment and household appliance industries on the basis of their current economic and trade cooperation zones, while gradually expanding the scale and level of cooperation, Gao said.

Nigeria is China's third largest investment destination in Africa and China's accumulated investment in Nigeria has reached $1.95 billion by the end of 2012.

In recent years, investment from China's private enterprises in Nigeria has increasingly been active as over 40 Chinese private firms have entered Nigeria with a total investment of $800 million in the fields of agriculture, textile industry, construction materials, mining and others,Gao said.

Chinese enterprises invest in Nigeria's seed cultivation and have become the Nigerian government's seed providers, which helps boost local self-support in grain, he said.

Chinese and Nigerian enterprises have joined hands in operating satellite networks, with digital television signals covering 84 percent of the African country, which promoted cultural exchanges of both countries, Gao said.

Within the framework of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum, Chinese enterprises and the Nigerian government have worked together to build two economic and trade cooperation zones in Nigeria and to open chinaware, furniture and household appliance manufacturing factories, which have created more than 4,000 jobs in the country, Gao said.

Nigeria currently has become China's third largest trade partner and second largest export market in Africa, while China is Nigeria's third largest trade partner.

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