Pak businessmen invited to tap huge trade potential of Nigeria

LAHORE, Dec 23 (APP):High Commissioner of Nigeria Maj
General (Retd) Ashimiyu Adebayo Olaniyi said on Saturday that
huge untapped potential of his country could be explored
through joint ventures between the private sectors of the two
countries.
The Nigerian government would extend maximum cooperation
to achieve the goal of economic prosperity, he added.
Talking to LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid, Senior Vice
President Khawaja Khawar Rashid and Executive Committee
Members here at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry, he
said that low volume of the bilateral trade demands extraordinary
efforts from the businessmen of the two countries.
The Nigerian HC invited the Pakistani businessmen to enter
into joint ventures with their Nigerian counterparts in the
fields of agriculture, textile and manufacturing. He said that
easing of visa process between the two countries could increase the bilateral trade in shortest possible time.
“Nigeria is one of the major member states of African Union.
It is classified as an emerging market rapidly approaching to
middle income status. However, this relationship has not been
translated into tangible economic ties because Nigeria
unfortunately does not figure prominently among the trading
partners of Pakistan,” he added.
He mentioned that Nigeria and Pakistan shared a lot of
commonalities, and the two countries enjoyed unique geographical
locations, which were strategic in their respective continents.
Both also shared other things in common, including the population
and its diversity. However, in spite of these commonalities,
the economic relations between Nigeria and Pakistan was low
compared with the size and endowments both countries possessed
in terms of human and natural resources.
The current trade volume between Nigeria and Pakistan is
about US$500 million,” Nigerian High Commissioner concluded.
LCCI President Malik Tahir Javaid said that Pakistan did
consider the value of strengthening the trade and economic
relations with Nigeria keeping in view the big market of
Africa. He said that Pakistan and Nigeria were also members
of Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and had
friendly and strong diplomatic relations. Other than maintaining
steady trade relations, Pakistan had greatly been contributing
to fulfilling the defence requirements of Nigeria.
He said that the downward trend in exports of Pakistan to
Nigeria and overall downfall in bilateral trade was a matter
of concern and “We need to find reasons for this trend and also
take measures to turn around the situation.”
Major export items from Pakistan to Nigeria are medicament
mixtures, cotton fabrics, woven fabric of synthetic fibre,
tractors, garments, and electro-medical apparatus etc. Items
of import from Nigeria to Pakistan comprise cotton, raw hides
& skins, pharmaceutical products and articles of rubber etc.
“Pakistan can export rice, electrical appliances, auto-
parts etc. even at much competitive rates,” he said and
stressed the need for identifying more tradable products to
enhance mutual trade.
The LCCI president said that frequent exchange of trade
delegations, continuous liaison and exchange of information
could prove important instruments to strengthen our trade and
investment relations.