Nigerian Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Dr Doris Uzoka-Anite has said that the current administration is business focused.
She made the remarks while meeting with the Charge d’Affaires of the United States Embassy Mr David Greenie with his team in her office on Thursday.
The Minister said, “As you know, the current administration is business-focused and is very big on making sure that we preserve and protect the democracy that we have.
“Also, to preserve and protect the free market system that we have, while support growth and industrialization, support economic development through trade, investment, whether it’s local investment or foreign direct investment”, the Minister said.
According to the statement released by the Ministry, she also disclosed that Federal Government was doing all it could to make sure that all the different sectors of the economy were stimulated and catalyzed to achieve the mission.
The Minister said the economy is very big, very broad, then having to coordinate all of those activities, even if it was small silos or in collaborative formats inter-ministerially, was very important.
Anite said she was doing a lot already, trying to kick-start so many things at the same time. And not in a haphazard manner, but taken a great focus and bringing in the right skilled technical partnerships and support that needed to help the country move forward.
In her words, “one of the big achievements that we have recorded is the support that we’ve gotten from World Trade Organization and the World Bank in area of trade facilitation.
“Standard trade development facility, technical and financial support for digital trade, for the trade intelligence units, for the development of the cotton industry, and then the technical support, capacity development for customs.”
“And then one of the big achievements, too, one support we’re getting is the trade-related intellectual property. Apparently, I think a lot of people probably have traveled and it’s big on our agenda because we know that if we have the right intellectual property protection act in place, then we can actually see a lot of investment coming, especially in services. And it’s big for us.” She submitted.
While assuredly said the economy needed to really, really get transformed.
On his part, the Ministers guest, David Greenie said “This is a very serious event. We’re going to do a conversation about the private economy system.”
He said, “We work together as one team that is a foreign commercial service, a foreign agriculture service, USAID colleagues. I’m joined here by two colleagues from the economic team.
“We have the U.S. Trade and Development Agency in the country, we have the World and Communist Corporation in the country, and numerous other agencies that we can reach back to in Washington, D.C.
“And we are eager to work together in all of those areas, so that we can look for opportunities to be in trade, investment, commercial, as well”, he said.
Greenie further said during the tenure of this administration, they had their Deputy Secretary of Treasury visited last year and Under Secretary of Commerce visited along with a delegation of diaspora people.
Charge d’Affaires said, “We had a delegation of institutional investors that responsible for the $2 million worth of assets brought here by the USAID, and I’ve had a lot of inquiries from U.S. businesses, US investors, that see the opportunity of this business in Nigeria.”
Earlier the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment Amb Nura Abba Rimi in his opening remarks told the people present at the event that the team was on a visit to the Ministry on how to foster a trade relations with Nigeria and United Stated of America.