The Niger-Benin export pipeline project will generate more than 2,000 jobs during its implementation period for young Beninese, Xinhua learned from a diplomatic source in Cotonou on Sunday.

According to this source close to the Chinese Embassy in Benin, this Niger-Benin export pipeline project, whose construction agreement was signed recently in Beijing between the Beninese political authorities and those of the Chinese company China National Oil and Gas Exploration and Development Company LTD, is Benin's largest foreign direct investment since gaining independence in 1960.

"Niger-Benin Export Pipeline is an important project that will contribute enormously to Benin's economic development," said the same source.

Benin and Niger signed in January 2019 the bilateral agreement on the construction and operation of a hydrocarbon transport system by pipeline.

"These structuring investments will make Benin a hub for crude oil exports while strengthening the operational capacities of players in the Beninese oil sector", explains the same source.