Nigeria’s total trade with the European Union (EU) which stood at €39bn in 2014, accounting for 31 per cent of Nigeria’s total trade, has dropped to €29bn in 2015.

Speaking at the pre-event press conference of the fifth EU-Nigeria business forum (EUNBF), held at the Eko Hotel, Lagos, the Head of Trade and Economic, EU, Mr Filipo Amato, said that the EU investment stock in Nigeria grew from €23.8bn in 2013 to €25.3bn in 2014.

He, however, said that with the fall in oil prices, EU-Nigeria trade declined by 26.7 per cent, to €29bn last year.

“Nigerian exports to EU declined by 35 per cent while imports declined by seven per cent over the period,” he said.

“Unfortunately, about 97 per cent of the exports to the EU are oil and gas.”

Amato said that the forum was designed to strengthen the business relations between the country and the EU through identification of opportunities in the global textile value chain, exposing Nigerian small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to opportunities in the EU market through the platform of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN) and exploring financing options available for funding the power sector and diversifying the energy mix in the country.