The Nigerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Geoffrey Onyeama is advocating for more commitment with India to enhance trade relations for economic growth.
He made the call at the 7th Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi India.
The minister noted that the emergence of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) is a “game-changer” hence the largest free trade area with a huge advantage of doing business in the global market.
Geoffery highlighted the importance of trade relations during panel discussions themed “Out of Africa: Leading on Trade and Economic Integration”, and “Building the Gates of Globalisation: Investment, Infrastructure, and Taboos”. Said the various partnerships for infrastructure development, such as the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and other initiatives with India, the European Union, and other African countries have contributed enormously towards development.
“why I say AfCTA is going to be a game-changer is because it will make it easier for our political leaders and Africans to reach out to other African countries so what will come as a result or consequences will be infrastructure- the trans-Saharan highway and continental highway across Africa promoting connectivity and doing business. That will be the natural result of pulling down all the barriers that are preventing this connectivity within the continent.”
The minister further expressed optimism that Africa in the coming world will play a critical role with its new digital age to harness the full potential in the area of partnerships across the continent.
“We know ourselves very well and of course
Adding that “India is the second-largest producer of steel in the world. We want to industrialize. We have had challenges with developing our steel industry in Nigeria so that’s another area we can do a lot with India. We have a framework already although it’s a continental framework of the India-Africa Summit and clearly, we are looking at developing a more precise roadmap that responds to the priorities and needs of our country. We can also look at other areas such as the culture industries. You have Bollywood and we have Nollywood so there is a great deal we can do together.”
Onyeama stresses that in the context of Post COVID, Africa’s entry into the global value chain is another means of diversifying both in partnership and production, “we want to diversify not just our products but also our partners. Where value chains are concerned its always been targeted towards the western countries but clearly Asia is a lot more prominent in our engagement and notwithstanding the global challenges of today we are moving more and more increasing our partnership with Asia and of course, India is a big part of that as is China and one or two other countries. So notwithstanding whatever else is happening globally, we intend to prioritize and push on.”
The seventh Raisina Dialogue had more than 200 speakers from 90 countries, even as a level playing ground was also established between the Nigerian Foreign Affairs Minister Geoffrey Onyeama, External Affairs Minister of India Dr. S Jaishankar, other counter-part from Slovenia and the Philippines to discuss bilateral relations between Nigeria and the different countries.
