Nigeria’s President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is to participate in the Saudi-Africa Summit and the Arab-Africa Summit to attract more foreign direct investment from the Arab nation.
This is in line with President Tinubu’s effort to push for new inflows of foreign exchange into the Nigerian economy through investments in growth-enabling and labour-intensive sectors of the economy.
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Briefing State House correspondents on Sunday ahead of the President’s departure to Riyadh, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed that President Tinubu will first attend the Saudi-Africa Summit scheduled to take place on November 10.
Ngelale made it known that the Nigerian leader will engage in the Saudi summit basically on several areas of mutual concern, such as strengthening economic ties between the regions concerning the issues of counter-terrorism, the environment, agriculture, and many other areas.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will be heading to Riyadh, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, to attend two major summits. The first of which is the Saudi Africa summit, at which several areas of mutual concern will be addressed with respect to the economic ties between the regions with respect to the issues of counter-terrorism, the environment, agriculture, and many other areas of mutual concern.”
Ngelale added that the President will be leading Africa’s effort to leverage the opportunities afforded by the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, which provides a single trade market for over one billion Africans.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is very keen on ensuring that Nigeria within the context of the continent is in a position to maximally leverage on opportunities that will be afforded by the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement, where we will be having a single trade market of over one billion Africans the expectation, according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, is that by the year 2050, our market here on the continent will have surpassed $29 trillion. We believe that action towards that begins now. So the President is going to be very active and lead that effort from the forefront.”
The President’s Spokesperson further made known that President Tinubu will participate in the Arab-African League summit, which will take place on November 11th, in his capacity as the ECOWAS Chairman and with the authority of heads of government, advocating a deepening partnership between the two regions concerning the integration of Africa and infrastructure development.
Ngelale emphasised that this will be specifically in establishing a new high-speed train network that would link Arab nations from the Middle East and Northern Africa to the rest of the African continent.
“That is the Arab-African summit holding on November 11. His Excellency President Bola Tinubu, in his capacity, not just as the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria but also as the chairman of the authority of heads of government, will be taking part in the summit, ensuring that he is at the forefront of advocating for a really deepening partnership between the two regions, which is the League of Arab Nations as well as the African Union, with respect to how we can integrate in terms of our infrastructure and how we can facilitate the establishment of a new high-speed train network that would tie Arab nations from the Middle East and Northern Africa to the rest of the African continent.
He assured that the outcomes of the two summits will lead to tangible results concerning an increase in trade between not just the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but all Arab nations, especially Nigeria, which is a leading economy in Africa.
“Certainly, His Excellency Mr. President is passionate about any areas in which we can leverage the massive population and market that not just Africa presents but that Nigeria itself presents. We are expecting that the outcomes of this summit will lead to very tangible results with respect to increasing trade between not just the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia but all Arab nations, especially the leading economies in Africa, of which Nigeria is now number one,” Ngelale added.
“So we believe there’s a lot to be gained from these two summits. Of course, as we are there, you can fully expect that you will be briefed on a routine basis with concrete details as to what the outcomes are from not just the Saudi African summit but also the Arab African summit, but obviously with a particular emphasis on what the Federal Republic of Nigeria stands to gain under the leadership of His Excellency Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Mr. President, is going to be very aggressive, as always, in his promotion and pursuit of new foreign direct investment. It’s no secret what he’s been doing around the world since he assumed office, which will continue in Riyadh. We will be meeting with investors across sectors, and we will be pushing very proactively for new inflows of foreign exchange into the Nigerian economy through investments in growth-enabling and labour-intensive sectors of the economy.
Nigeria’s former president, Muhammadu Buhari, attended the Saudi-Africa Summit in October 2021.
The forthcoming Arab-African Summit in Riyadh aims to establish a promising collaboration between Africa and Saudi Arabia, specifically to work on solutions for enhancing cooperation between Arab and African nations and furthering their engagement with global powers concerning the African continent.
The summit also seeks to identify areas of cooperation, projects, and modules for improving bilateral and multilateral ties between Arab and African countries.
The Saudi-Africa Summit and the Arab-Africa Summit are taking place consecutively in Riyadh.
