NIGERIA – Nigeria, through its Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr Adeniyi Adebayo has reiterated its commitment to strengthen its relationship with Poland in terms of trade, commerce and industrialisation.
Adebayo said this in a statement signed by Mr Julius Jegede, the Special Assistant to the minister on Media in Abuja on October this year.
The minister spoke when he received Mrs Jonna Tarnawska, Ambassador of Republic of Poland to Nigeria in his office.
He said that government had put in place measures to ensure that all foreigners, including those from Poland engaged with credible local investors.
He listed one of such measures to include the Executive Order 001, Ease of Doing Business aimed at removing all incumbrances of business regulation.
“As a ministry, we are more than willing to assist Polish investors in any way possible with a view to guarantee the credibility of Nigeria businesses,” said Mr. Adebayo
“We know our people and we know the credible ones, so we are ready to give assistance in that regard. If there are areas where your firms need introduction to credible people here, we will assist.”
He promised that the ministry will give interested investors the investment brochure of Nigeria through the Nigeria Investment Promotion Council (NIPC) to help further their knowledge on the local business environment.
Adebayo further said that Nigeria would initiate economic and technical cooperation with Poland so that in the process, there would be a trade mission and proper economic activities to be carried out between the two countries.
During the meeting, the ambassador of Poland expressed willingness to explore further business opportunities in Nigeria but raised concerns by Polish investors.
She said the essence of the visit was to reiterate that Poland would like to continue its cooperation with Nigeria.
“Poland has a long-standing relationship with Nigeria. And we will like to further develop on this for the benefits of both nations,” said Mrs Tarnawska.
“Our country is willing to ensure cooperation with Nigeria in many areas such as: maritime, defence, education and economy.”
Poland and Nigeria have a long standing bilateral relationship that can be traced back to 1962 when the first Trade Agreement between the two countries was signed in 1962.
The volume of trade has been gradually increased since then and it hit a record US$274.5 million in 2016.
Nigeria is currently on a drive to diversify its economy to reduce its dependence on oil exports and Poland’s expertise in solar energy, infrastructure and construction will thus help Nigeria in diversifying its oil-dependent economy.
