Nigeria to leverage on 119 foreign missions to enhance FDI, says minister
NAN-HE-24
Diplomacy
Abuja, May 23, 2017 (NAN) The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Geoffrey Onyeama, said that Nigeria would make use of its 119 foreign offices to drive economic diplomacy and enhance Foreign Direct Investment (FDI).
Onyeama announced this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on the sideline of the visit of the President of The Corporate Council on Africa (CCA), Mrs Florenzzia Liser, to his office.
“You know that we have offices in 119 countries around the world and we want to leverage on that.
“We have physical presence in 119 countries and how can we leverage on that to deliver very concrete economic benefits for the country, especially in the area of promoting FDI.
“So we are working on a number of projects in that direction on what concrete deliverable we can achieve,” he said.
He said that the present administration was also working relentlessly to attract investors into the country, adding that government had put measures in place to make doing business easier in Nigeria.
“We appreciate that we want to attract FDI and make business easier; we are serious about that and we also appreciate that we have to diversify the economy as we depended on oil a lot.
“In doing that, we look forward to some partnerships.
“We have discussed with some partners in the U.S.; it is very encouraging so we are happy that CCA came to us to strengthen the relationship between the U.S. and Nigeria,” he said.
Onyeama said that the present administration was also working hard to change the wrong impression and negative stories about the country.
He said that the government was looking for development platform because a lot of commerce really dependent on trust.
“There are so many challenges in the past and this government is really determined to change the narratives which are so much of negative ranging from terrorism, corruption, kidnapping and so many others.
“The present government is having political will to change the negative stories so we are working hard, it is really determined to make doing business easier and attract investors and increase FDI.
“We are really working and will appreciate that there are some other things to fix like energy to make it work,” he said.
Liser had earlier said that the purpose of her visit was to fulfill the mandate of the CCA which aimed at strengthening African-U.S. business relationship.
“CCA, a Washington D.C. based organisation, is the leading U.S. business association, focused solely on connecting and promoting business interests between the United States and Africa.
“We have had a number of meetings with Nigerian and its leaders on how to promote America-Nigeria investment and trade,” she said.
The president said that this was expected to be achieved through the 2017 U.S.-Africa Business Summit scheduled for June.
“CCA is expecting more than 1,000 business and government leaders in Washington for the summit from June 13 to 16 to discuss the challenges of doing business in Africa.
“It will also proffer actionable solutions for businesses, looking to seize opportunities to shape effective U.S.-Africa trade and investment policies,” she said (NAN)
IAA/IA
(Edited by Idris Abdulrahman)