Trade and Sustainable Development: The Nigeria-China Experience

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

Department of Economics and Development Studies, Kwara State University, Malete, Nigeria.

Abstract

The significance of Nigeria-China bilateral trade relations has evolved over the years in nature, scope, and impact, making it imperative for mainstream research to analyze its potential implications for sustainable development. This paper assessed the impact of Nigeria-China bilateral relations on sustainable development for both countries from 1980-2020. The Autoregressive Distributive Lag (ARDL) model was used to evaluate how bilateral trade intensities influence sustainable development. Findings show that Nigeria’s export to China wields a positive and significant impact on Nigeria’s sustainable development while China’s export to Nigeria has a negative and significant impact on Nigeria’s sustainable development. Further findings reveal that Nigeria’s export to China does not have any significant impact on China’s sustainable development, while China’s export to Nigeria produced a positive and significant impact on China’s sustainable development. The paper concludes that while trade propels sustainable development, it can also be detrimental through over-reliance on imports and the employment of unsustainable trade practices. In terms of policy import, Nigeria needs to improve its value addition, product innovation, and production processes to improve product standards and international competitiveness.  Furthermore, the Nigerian and Chinese governments should invest substantially in research and development of green transport modes for importation activities and ensure their commitment to the Voluntary Sustainability Standards (VSS) to make the Nigeria-China trade relations holistically sustainable.

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References

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Iranian Economic Review
Volume 28, Issue 4
December 2024
Pages 1315-1336

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