The Deputy Director of General of the World Trade Organization, Mr.Yonov Fred Agah paid a courtesy visit to NEXIM Bank on Wednesday the 26th of August 2015 to discuss and explore areas of collaboration and synergy between the two organizations.

He was received by the Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer Mr. Roberts U. Orya and other top level Management officers of the Bank. Mr. Orya gave a broad overview of the institution’s mandate as a trade policy Bank that promotes export diversification and deepening the non-oil sector. These the Bank pursues through strategic initiatives targeted towards boosting employment creation and foreign exchange earnings in the Manufacturing, Agro-processing, Solid Minerals and Services (Tourism, Transportation and Entertainment) industries.

He further informed the Director General on the various initiatives embarked upon by the Bank to expand trade, particularly regional trade by setting up the Sealink project which is a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) designed to promote trade within the sub region, the ECOWAS Trade Support facility (ETSF) established to enhance movement of goods across borders, the Interstate Road Transport Scheme(ISRT) set up to promote free flow of goods among member states, free of duties, taxes and restrictions while in transit and the Nigerian Creative and Entertainment facility targeted at supporting the structured growth and development of the entertainment sector.

The Deputy DG in his response commended the efforts of NEXIM Management stating that NEXIM is on the right track and encouraged the Bank as a Trade Policy Bank to deepen relationships with regulatory agencies and stakeholders in the sector to collaborate and explore areas of synergy so as to provide better access to market commodities, remove barriers to trade/ bottlenecks that are prevalent in the sector.
He mentioned that the World Trade Organization (WTO) provides the framework for negotiating trade agreements, dispute resolution process aimed at enforcing participants’ adherence to WTO and said that trade finance is the core area of encouraging regional integration and a key factor in eradicating poverty. He further stated that the WTO aims to create awareness and proffer solutions to the peculiar experiences in different countries with regards to trade.

The Deputy DG said that even though empirical Trade policy analysis is lacking in the different sectors the WTO is working on developing a Global Value Chain for better Trade Information, and Trade regimes and concluded by promising to work with the Management of NEXIM Bank to achieved the desired goals and objectives of providing a seamless Trade Policy document and enjoined the Bank to explore collaborating with their in- house institute for training and technical acquisition.

Mr. Roberts U. Orya in closing, thanked the Deputy DG stating, “We are going to work with the WTO, deepen our relationship with relevant government agencies i.e., SON, NAFDAC, CUSTOMS and other relevant agencies…. that all of us will come together to determine how we will drive Nigeria’s export market.”

Earlier in the week, on August 24th, the Greek Ambassador to Nigeria, His Excellency Mr. Alekos Ikonomopoulos paid a courtesy call to the Bank to discuss areas of possible partnerships and synergy between Nigeria and Greece in promotion of non-oil exports.
The Ambassador visited the Bank in company of the wife of His Excellency Mr. Ayodeji Ayodele, the Nigerian Ambassador to Greece – Mrs. Elizabeth Ayodele.

Welcoming the Greek Ambassador, Orya thanked Mr. Alekos Ikonomopoulos for taking the initial collaborative step, while he highlighted notable Greek owned companies currently operating in Nigeria.

Orya used the opportunity to provide an update on the Sealink Project implementation and maintained that the Sealink is a private sector-driven project and that NEXIM Bank is only facilitating its establishment in line with its mandate, as the Trade Policy Bank of Nigeria to promote and deepen non-oil export trade. The Sealink Project will promote intra and inter- African trade, thereby fostering regional integration, economic growth and development in the West and Central African sub-regions.

Notably, Greek investments in Nigeria today exceed US$5 billion, and are growing. For example, the Greek owned Flour Mills of Nigeria’s investment into UNICEM cement factory Calabar, Cross River State.

The Ambassador pledged mutual cooperation to boost trade relations between Nigeria and Greece.

“We shall create the enabling environment for Greek investors to collaborate with Nigeria in the areas of Technology, Maritime and Agriculture “he stated.