PRESS CONFERENCE:FCT Minister to Polish Trade Delegation; “Make Abuja your investment hub for West Africa.

  The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has urged visiting delegation from Poland to make Abuja the hub for Polish investment in West Africa.

 

The FCT Minister made this call when organizers of the Polish-Nigeria Business and Investment Summit (PONBIS) paid him a courtesy visit on Tuesday, August 22, 2017.

 

The Minister expressed concern that the commercial relationship between Nigeria and Poland has been so skeletal even though the country is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe today.  

 

The Minister cited Poland’s proficiency in the construction and heavy steel industries. His words “I think this is the right time for you to come fully into Nigeria because the government is serious about encouraging trade between Nigeria and countries like yours. I am therefore very happy that you are already liaising with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council (NIPC), which is the right organization for you to deal with because they have the expertise.”

 

He unveiled the various investment opportunities in the medical field especially in equipment and medical diagnostic services while advising that Poland should facilitate cultural exchanges between them and Nigeria. Other areas, the Minister mentioned include; educational exchanges between lecturers and students, saying “You can encourage your scholars to come here on sabbatical leaves, maybe to undertake  some aspects of their studies.”

 

Malam Bello highlighted the attractiveness of Abuja as an investment destination enumerating its qualities such as being the capital of a great country, its central location, well developed infrastructure and enabling investment climate.

 

He informed the visitors that the Abuja’s International Airport right now operates four international flights to Europe, namely; France, Britain,  Germany and Istanbul.

 

Malam Bello invited Polish Companies to come into Nigeria and to take necessary steps to generate the needed awareness especially by establishing a trade office here in conjunction with the NIPC. He urged the commercial department of the Polish Embassy to create forums for the enlightenment of interested Nigerian business men on Polish businesses.

 

The FCT Administration, the Minister assured the visitors, would give all the required support through the NIPC.

 

Earlier in his remarks at the occasion, the leader of the delegation Dr. Piotr Uruski, a member of Polish Parliament disclosed that they were in FCT to invite the Administration to the First Polish-Nigeria Investment Summit scheduled in Poznan, Poland on the 25^th and 26^th of September this year.

 

Dr. Uruski revealed, he would want the FCT Minister to address the Polish parliament as well as meet with the Poznan Marshall, (equivalent of a Governor in Nigeria) towards establishing mutual cooperation and trade promotion.

 

Also speaking at the occasion, the facilitator of the tour, Dr. Okechukwu Nwafor, who is Director of Centre for Polish and African Affairs, Poznan University of Communication and Management, indicated that they were in Nigeria to break the mental wall that had blocked the flow of investment between Nigeria and Poland. He stressed that one major way of achieving this was by moving to abolish third-party intervention in favour of free flow of social and economic cooperation.

 

Dr. Nwafor pointed out that Nigerdock which built Nigeria’s major dockyard was a Polish company as well as Piwa which at a time was the maker of Nigeria’s preferred football brands. He stressed that Polish business men and corporations were eager to move Polish businesses in Nigeria beyond buying and selling to manufacturing and technological collaboration.  

 

The delegation included Andrzey Lyko of the Polish Chamber of Commerce who, in his remarks, informed the Minister that the Polish Nigeria Investment Summit was designed to bring Nigeria and Polish business men unto a common platform with the aim of moving Nigeria Polish business collaboration beyond where it is today.  

 

Cosmas Uzodinma
Chief Press Secretary
To the FCT Minister.