Nigerian envoy for cooperation between SMEs of both countries

ISLAMABAD: The Ambassador of Nigeria Maj Gen (retd) Ashimiyu Adebayo Olaniyi on Friday stressed the need for developing strong cooperation between the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of Pakistan and Nigeria.

Addressing the business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), the Ambassador said Pakistan and Nigeria had many commonalities that should be leveraged for promoting bilateral trade and economic relations between the two countries.

He said Nigeria had excellent cooperation with Pakistan in the field of defence, but the bilateral trade was not encouraging.

He said both countries had big consumer markets and huge potential to cooperate with each other in many fields, including agriculture, minerals, pharmaceuticals, oil, gas, energy and others, as Pakistani pharmaceuticals, tractors and many other products had great potential in Nigeria. The Nigerian envoy said the two countries should develop strong cooperation between their SMEs that would help in up scaling two-way trade. He said PIA should consider launching direct flights between Pakistan and Nigeria that would help in improving trade volume.

He said Nigeria had made same liberal investment policy for foreign investors, and urged Pakistani investors to explore Nigeria for investment opportunities.

He said an international trade fair would be held in Abuja, Nigeria in February 2018 and added that it was a good opportunity for Pakistani businessmen to take part in it and explore business prospects in Nigeria.

Sheikh Amir Waheed, president, ICCI, said Pakistan and Nigeria were doing trade in limited items due to which bilateral trade was not up to the mark. He stressed that both countries should focus on diversification of trade to achieve better results.

He said both countries had good potential to get better access to bigger markets by enhancing cooperation, as Nigeria was a gateway for Africa and Pakistan was a gateway for South Asia.

Waheed said both countries could help each other in manufacturing, agriculture, energy, natural resources and many other sectors for which direct connectivity between their private sectors was the key requirement.

He said many Pakistani products including agriculture machinery, electrical products, medical equipment, pharmaceuticals, textiles and garments, sports goods, surgical instruments could find a good market in Nigeria.