The maiden edition of the Nigeria-Egypt Trade Conference and Exhibition (NETCE) has ended in Cairo with the signing of partnership agreements worth 30 million dollars between business organisations from both countries.
Chairman of the Egypt African Businessmen’s Association (EABA), Dr Yousrey El Sharkawi and Mr Mahmood Ahmadu, president of Nigeria -Egypt Cultural and Socio-Economic Forum (NESCEF), disclosed this at the end of the three-day conference, organized by both organizations in collaboration with the Embassy of Nigeria in Cairo.
According to a statement by Executive Assistant to the President, NESCEF, Abdul-Razaq Musa, El Sharkawi told a press conference that six companies from both countries agreed to cooperate in the sectors of construction, medical equipment, and engineering industries as well as agriculture, mining, technology and real estate.
He lauded the organized private sector in both countries for making bold steps to actualize increased economic cooperation.
Nigeria’s Minister of State for Works and Housing, Ibrahim El-Yakub, who attended the conference, and toured some housing units developed by the private sector in Egypt, expressed the willingness of Nigeria to cooperate with Egypt in the housing sector.
Yakub noted that Nigeria requires a minimum of 200,000 housing units each year.
Welcoming the outcome of the conference, Nigeria’s Ambassador to Egypt, Nura Abba Rimi, noted that the agreements reached by the private entities would encourage more business and trade opportunities for the benefit of citizens of both countries.
He emphasised that both countries are endowed with rich natural and human resources, as well as a very enterprising and innovative youthful population.
Ahmadu, the president of NESCEF, thanked EABA and the Embassy of Nigeria in Cairo under whose aegis the conference was held successfully.
