The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Otunba Richard Adeniyi Adebayo has assured that the Federal Government will sustain trade and investment relationships with Canada.
The Minister gave the assurance on Monday at the 2nd Nigeria-Canada Investment Summit held in Abuja, according to a statement issued by Mr Julius Toba-Jegede, his Special Assistant on Media.
Adebayo expressed hope that the summit like others would help Nigeria secure bilateral agreements with nations that have demonstrable capacities.
He revealed that Canada is strategic to trading and investment activities in Africa, with about $3.5 billion worth of trade in each direction.
He also described Nigeria as one of Canada’s top three trading partners on the continent, with estimated import and export receipt of $ 377 million, $360 million worth of goods respectively.
He added that “Our geographic position, economic potential and relative share of economic output, in the African region places us in a unique position to serve as a gateway to Africa.
” Canada is a strategic trading and investment partner to Africa as evidenced by the $3.5 billion worth of trade in each direction.
“The continent’s relationship with Canada cannot be overemphasized as the two regions boast of large mineral deposits and a strategic footprint that fosters competitive access to some of the world’s largest and fastest growing economies.
” Nigeria in particular ranks among Canada’s top three trading partners in Africa with an estimated import and export receipt of $377 million, $360 million worth of goods respectively,”
On agriculture, Adebayo said that “Our trade partnership with Canada is largely comprised of agricultural and food products.
” Coincidentally, the agro-allied and agribusiness sectors are of national priority to Nigeria. The sector serves as one of the core elements of our national economic policy, which is committed to aggressively supporting and expanding local production”.
He also listed the mining and solid minerals sectors as areas where Canada is well positioned to support Nigeria in its quest to diversify the economy.
Other areas according to him are: Healthcare, Power, Education, Telecommunications/ICT and Real Estate where the two countries can assist each other.
He noted that the Federal Government had adopted a new bilateral investment policy direction in 2016 to promote investments.
He, however informed that “Nigeria is committed to working closely with Canada to address the list of provisions considered limiting to its international investment agreements regime, which conclusively led to the development of a new BIT model of 2016.
” Our partnership with Canada is invaluable to our national interest and we are working jointly on a modern FIPPA. We look forward to the continuation of this mutually beneficial relationship between our two great regions”.
