Odimmegwa Johnpeter/Abuja
Over 30 top Egyptian business leaders visited Nigeria in the company of the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs H.E. Dr. Badr Abdelatty to explore investment opportunities and expand trade relations between the two countries. The Egyptian delegation includes CEOs from diverse sectors.
Their presence underscores Egypt’s commitment to expanding economic, trade, and investment cooperation with West African Countries.
The Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Tuggar Maitama, revealed that there are lots of areas of interest that the two countries could explore.
According to him, the Egyptian delegation will also be attending the Jigawa State business forum.
“They have one of the largest players that has successfully reclaimed record amounts of land, turned desert into fertile land that is producing food in Egypt.
“They have come here. They are interested in investing and participating in Nigeria.
“Of course, there are some of the other players, for instance, the power and energy sector, electricity and swede, the likes of them are already here.
“They are looking at opportunities in gas, in the mineral sector etc.”
He said that both countries are going to establish a joint commission so that all of “these initiatives, including the chamber of commerce that we have, would be subsumed under that so that we can drive it faster.
Following today’s high-level bilateral meeting with my brother and counterpart, H.E. Dr. Badr Abdelatty, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, we reaffirmed our shared commitment to deepen the Comprehensive Partnership between Nigeria and Egypt across diplomacy, security, trade, and development.
He said “Our discussions spanned key strategic areas:
– Easing trade barriers and correcting the existing trade imbalance
.Fast-tracking the Nigeria–Egypt Chamber of Commerce launch
Strengthening cooperation in energy, aviation, ICT, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals
– Enhancing defence collaboration and anti-terrorism capacity-building
Supporting youth innovation and academic exchanges
– Advancing our aligned interests in multilateral platforms like the AU, AfCFTA, and D-8
“We also addressed key consular concerns and explored concrete steps to expand commercial and technical cooperation under the Africa Continental Free Trade Area framework.
“This engagement reflects President Tinubu’s 4D Foreign Policy Strategy; Development, Democracy, Demography, and Diaspora, and our collective vision of a prosperous, secure, and self-reliant Africa.
“Africa’s future will be shaped by partnerships like this—rooted in history, driven by shared interests, and focused on results.
Among the areas the delegation is interested in, according to Abdel Aaty, are agriculture, pharmaceuticals, industry, energy, minerals, oil, and gas.
Egypt, he said, is ready to do mutually beneficial businesses with Nigeria.
He said: “For me, I’m heading a big delegation. We have more than 30 giant companies in Egypt, in different sectors, in agriculture, in pharmaceuticals, in industry, in energy, in mineral, oil and gas, you name it.
“They are here because there are a lot of opportunities, a conducive environment for investment and we are committed to come, to invest, to do business here based on a win-win situation.”
According to him, the present low level of trade volume between the two countries was part of efforts to boost Egypt-Nigeria bilateral relations.
The Egyptian Minister said “The current trade volume between our two countries does not meet or correspond with the weight of two giants in Africa, Nigeria and Egypt.
“This is very minimal. We have to double and even triple the trade volume in order to match the weight of the two countries.
“And we are fully committed, we have the political will from Nigeria, from Egypt to do and I’m fully committed to work with my dear brother Minister Yusuf to hopefully double and triple the trade volume in the near future.” he added
Continuing, he said “Our political relationship is more than excellent, but we have to do more on economic trade and investment based on a win-win situation.
“Nigeria is the largest country in Africa. Nigeria is the gateway to Africa, not only to the west and central of Africa, but to all Africa.
“That’s why, as my brother Yusuf mentioned, I’m starting my tour from here, from Abuja, in recognition of the strategic status of this great country. The two leaders met before in Rio de Janeiro on the side of the G20 meeting and they agreed to elevate our relationship into a comprehensive and strategic partnership and this is our task as foreign ministers to do more and to enhance our cooperation.”he said
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