Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged Niger’s junta government to resolve disputes with Chinese energy companies operating in the West African nation through dialogue.
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Wang made the remarks during talks with his Nigerien counterpart Bakary Yaou Sangaré in the central Chinese city of Changsha on Wednesday.
“The two sides should properly handle the differences and problems encountered in cooperation through dialogue,” Wang said, according to a Chinese foreign ministry readout of the meeting, which was held on the sidelines of a conference of African ministers.
Niger’s ruling junta in March expelled three Chinese oil executives working for China National Petroleum Corporation and CNPC subsidiaries over salary disparities between expatriate and lower-paid local workers. The junta also revoked the licence of a Chinese-owned hotel in the capital Niamey, citing “discriminatory practices and administrative violations”.
The dispute escalated in May when Niger ordered CNPC – which has vast oil interests in the Sahelian nation – and its oil refinery unit Soraz to terminate the contracts of expatriate employees with more than four years of service.
During the talks, Wang called on the junta to ensure the safety and rights of Chinese companies and citizens in Niger, and to create favourable conditions for the stable, long-term development of bilateral cooperation projects.
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That includes the Agadem oilfield and 1,980km (1,230-mile) oil pipeline, which was developed and built by CNPC. The pipeline, which began operating last year, runs from the Agadem oilfield in the south of landlocked Niger to Seme, an Atlantic port in neighbouring Benin. The entire project is estimated to have cost some US$7 billion and was funded by CNPC. The Soraz refinery, or Zinder Refining Co, was completed in 2011 with a CNPC investment of US$980 million.