I grew up in a city in Nigeria where one of the first Confucius Institutes is located. While still in my country, I had the opportunity to study Chinese language through the Confucius Institute. The institute has assisted me in realizing part of my dream of coming to China. Although I had heard a little about China's economic transformation through my Chinese teacher, I was surprised by the level of transformation and development on the ground when I stepped foot in China a year ago. As a freshman in China, I could not hide my admiration of the high-speed trains, skyscrapers, and good road network, to mention but few. China will remain a country that will continue to build a community of common development and shared future prosperity for a long time.

Over the past four decades, China’s GDP has averaged a yearly growth rate of over 9 percent in comparable prices. China has opened up a market of more than $1.7 trillion in foreign investment and invested more than $1.2 trillion abroad. In the last 10 years, with China’s strength in the workforce, capital, market, and technology, the nation on average contributed 30 percent of yearly global economic growth, sharing the benefits of China’s development with the world. Also, China’s share in the global economy augmented from 2.7 to 16 percent; China’s per capita GDP soared from about $100 to over $8,000; 800 million Chinese are now living a poverty-free life – which amounts to over 70 percent of global poverty reduction, making China the first developing nation to meet the Millennium Development Goals set by the United Nations – an unparalleled accomplishment. The fact is, what had taken the Western industrialized nations several hundred years to accomplish, has taken China four decades; this is truly a miracle in human history. As the largest emerging economy, China is shifting from high-speed growth to high-quality growth. For that reason, China has kept a medium-high economic growth rate of 6.9 percent in 2017 and 6.8 percent in the first quarter of 2018, contributing nearly one-third of world economic growth and continuously acting as the largest contributor to the world economy.

To continue contributing to the world economy, China has promised to further open its economy with concrete measures to promote the shared prosperity of China and the global economy. China’s four decades of reform meets its citizen’s aspirations for innovation, a better standard of living, and development. Presently, China is more confident and capable than at any time in history to actualize national rejuvenation as the nation presses ahead on the journey of reform and opening-up afresh. Notably, an open China is in a better position to share the benefits of its reform and development with the world in general, and Nigerian economies in particular, so that China and the world can work together to attain shared prosperity. Also, the reform meets the worldwide trend towards peace, cooperation, and development. China’s four decades of scoring an extraordinary success in its reform and opening-up indicate that China has positively motivated economic globalization. It is broadly acknowledged that China’s comprehensive deepening in the past four decades has offered the global economy a major locomotive, as it has given new impetus to the world economy via a set of pragmatic programs, of which the most representative one is the Belt and Road Initiative.

China’s impressive development trajectory offers an alternative development model for Nigerian economies where China’s presence has grown immensely over the years. There is an old Nigerian proverb that states “A man cannot sit down alone and plan for prosperity”. Growing economic cooperation with China provides the Nigerian people with a reason to be optimistic about their plans. During my studies at the Confucius Institute, I was told about the Confucian dictum: “One who wishes himself to be successful also must help others to be successful; one who wishes to develop himself also must help others to develop”. This is the mindset of the Chinese people and why the Chinese government has been accelerating and intensifying their effort to make a substantial contribution towards the provision of hard infrastructure across Nigeria, ranging from distribution grids to pipelines, airports, ports, roads, refineries, railroads and power generation, which in turn will have a huge multiplier effect on Nigerian economies.

China, through platforms like the Belt and Road Initiative, shows its robust readiness to share its experience and achieve common development with Nigeria. With the latecomer advantage, Nigeria can introduce the most advanced management, cutting-edge technology and experienced talents in all fields from China, thus leapfrogging the pitfalls China once faced. If China can leapfrog its pitfalls and develop in four decades, then with better governance and the right policy implementation, Nigeria also can attain the same growth status as China.

Over the past four decades, China has become a major economic partner of Nigeria. Trade between China and Nigeria augmented from $2 billion in 2005 to $6.5 billion in the first five months of 2017, an increase of 33 percent over the same period. The volume represented 7.6 percent of the total trade between China and Africa and 36.4 percent of total trade volume between Nigeria and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). China’s investment in Nigeria grew by 27 percent in 2016. China has already invested or financed over $22 billion worth of projects in Nigeria, while more than $23 billion worth of projects are ongoing.

Accompanying the investment, China’s technology management and experienced personnel also have entered Nigeria, which greatly boosts the diversification and development of Nigeria's economy. Nigerians have a strong enthusiasm to welcome Chinese investment, which they see as one of the pillars improving the domestic economy. Nigeria has all the required qualities to become another world manufacturer, and China has the willingness and ability to support Nigeria to realize its potential.

So, as the Chinese people celebrate their four decades of reform and opening-up, Nigerian leaders will want to remind Western nations of their appreciation of China’s increasing significance as their leading development partner. The Nigerian government would like to remind Western nations that there is room for cooperation.

The author is from Nigeria and is studying at Zhejiang Normal University in East China's Zhejiang province.

The opinions expressed here are those of the writer and do not represent the views of China Daily and China Daily website.