President Bola Tinubu is set to strengthen economic and political ties between Nigeria and the Arab world this week during a Saudi-Africa and Arab-Africa summits in Saudi Arabia.
Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, disclosed this to State House correspondents on Sunday at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
According to him, Tinubu will attend the Saudi-Africa summit and Arab-African Summit on November 10 and 11, 2023 in Riyadh, in an effort to attract more foreign direct investment (FDI) and business partnerships from Arab nations to Nigeria and Africa.
The presidential media aide said Tinubu will discuss mutual interests around trade, counterterrorism, agriculture, infrastructure and environmental issues during meetings with Saudi and other Arab leaders.
Ngelale said other areas for discussion will be in terms of accelerating the level of trade and investment between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the African continent.
He said, “Obviously, President Tinubu is very keen on ensuring that the Federal Republic of 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 1 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 would have surpassed $29 trillion,” the presidential aide said.
Ngelale explained that the President, during the trip, will be very active and leading that effort from the forefront.
At the Arab African summit holding on November 11, Ngelale said President Tinubu in his capacity also as the chairman of the authority of heads of government ECOWAS will be taking part in the summit ensuring that he is at the forefront of advocating for deepening partnership of the two regions that is the League of Arab nations as well as the African Union with respect to integration in terms of infrastructure, facilitation and 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.
