Nigeria is planning to double its trade
volume with Brazil from the current $9bn (N1.422tn) to $18bn (N2.844tn) by
2015.
Nigeria’s Minister of Trade and
Investment, Olusegun Aganga, disclosed over the weekend in Abuja at a
Nigeria-Brazil trade forum that both countries had agreed to strengthen trade
and investment ties by leveraging areas where they had competitive and
comparative advantage.
“The volume of trade has increased significantly over the
years. Today, it is $9billion and we can do much more. We are working on how we
can double that by 2015.”
Brazil is our number three trading
partner in terms of crude oil exports after the United States of America and
India. So, the country is very important to
our economy, knowing that crude oil sale is 90 per cent of our export.
In terms of imports from Brazil, most of our rice, sugar and
automobiles come from Brazil and
we are working to improve upon what we have at the moment.”
“So, Nigeria has had a good trading
relationship with Brazil for a very long time now. The Brazilian Minister of
State, Ministry of Development, Industry and its Foreign Trade, Mr. Fernado
Pimentel, and I will work together to double the trade volume between Nigeria
and Brazil by 2015,” he said.
Aganga said both countries had also
agreed to put in place mechanism that would accelerate trade development
between them.
He said the Federal Government had
opened discussions with Brazil to have a direct flight from Nigeria to Brazil,
adding that when approved, the move would help to facilitate trade.
As part of the mechanism to be put in
place to facilitate trade ties, the Minister said a direct flight from Nigeria
to Brazil will soon be launched.
“We will have a direct flight from
Nigeria to Brazil. Today, a flight that should take six hours is taking us 24
hours. That is not good for business; it is not good for investment. We have a
trade commission in place that will accelerate that process as
quickly as possible,” the minister said.
This is a good development considering the similarities between the two countries. But the best thing to learn from Brazil, is how Brazil became a global power in agriculture and a net food exporter, and how over 20 million Brazilians were lifted out of poverty in less than 10 years during the tenure of Lulu Da Silva.
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