Nigeria’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Bianca Odumegwu Ojukwu has said that the ongoing West Africa Economic Summit, (WAES) in Nigeria is a bold state by the region’s leaders to enhance trade and investment potentials and craft future of shared prosperity for the future of the region.
The Minister stated this at the opening ceremony of the 2 day event going in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital city.
She said the summit is a legacy that has forged a shared identity that drives collective progress and strengthened by unified diplomacy.
“This gathering is a landmark event. It is a bold affirmation of our leaders’ collective will to enhance trade and investment potential and craft a future of shared prosperity for the future of West Africa.
WAES is more than a country. It is a platform of progress where policy meets enterprise, where leadership engages innovation, and where West Africans have long engaged, not merely as niggers, but as one very unique thread that extends across a vast diaspora, uniquely positioning us as leaders on the global scale,’’ She said
According to the minister, West African industries have relatively proven their strength through significant achievements in banking, digital services, agriculture, and extractives but there was the need to safeguard the regional bloc and drive the expansion through far-sighted integration policies and reforms that reinforce the region’s economic sovereignty.
“This initiative reflects Nigeria’s steadfast commitment to inclusive regional-wide collaboration, bringing together all West African countries, irrespective of institutional alignments, to confront shared challenges and seize the opportunities that await us,’’ she said
She urged participants to actively participate in discussions at the summit in order to bring out positive outcomes that will translate potentials of the West African region into prosperity.
‘’ Let this summit not be just another meeting, but a turning point, a moment of collective resolve to translate potential into prosperity.
I encourage us all to engage fully and to think boldly and leave here with confident outcomes that will advance trade and investment across the region.
Minister of Trade and Investment in Nigeria, Dr, Jumoke Oduwale in her remark said the time to integrate the west African market is now since the region has great potentials and achieving a lot despite challenges.
She said was the need to come together to harness the vast opportunities inherent trade even beyond the region, stating that inter African trade currently stand at 20 percent, while inter trade within West Africa stands at only 10 percent.
‘’There are indeed great opportunities, so we must come together as a group to tap into it and progress together,’’
Let us build a West Africa that trades with each other to fastrack our economy,’’ she said
She said Nigeria is building a more agile economy in this regard, while promoting competitiveness and reducing tariff challenges.
In attendance are Ministers, policy and industry stakeholders from various parts of the region including the minister of trade and invest from the Republic of Benin.
The summit which commenced on the 20th and end on the 21st of June and is part of activities commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS)
The Nigeria President Bola Ahmed Bola Tinubu is expected to participate in the closing of the event on Saturday the 21st of June.
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Victoria Ibanga