Waka Jugbe! Tinubu heading for Germany, 48 hours after one-week oversea trip

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu will, on Saturday, leave Abuja for Berlin, Germany, to attend the G-20 Compact with Africa (CwA) Conference on November 20, 2023, hosted by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.…CONTINUE READING

The president will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar; the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite; and the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu.

Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngelale, announced this in a statement on Friday.

He said during the conference, President Tinubu will join other Heads of State and Government of CwA member countries, bilateral partners, as well as Heads of International Organisations to deliberate on the immediate enhancement of economic and business cooperation with a view to outlining concrete measures to boost investments in critical areas such as energy, trade, infrastructure, and new technologies, among others.

Ngelale said the G20 CwA Conference will be taking place alongside the Fourth G20 Investment Summit, co-hosted by the German government and German business associations.

He added that the president would sustain the momentum and advance the mission further as he led Nigeria’s delegation to participate in the investment summit in view of his globally recognised drive for foreign direct investment in Nigeria.

Presidential spokesman said this visit also affirmed President Tinubu’s commitment to diplomatic reciprocity as the invitation to Germany from the German Chancellor was being honoured following the visit of the German Chancellor to Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria, from October 29 to October 30, 2023.

He added that the Nigerian delegation would follow up on productive meetings previously conducted with high-ranking representatives from German business organisations who were part of the official delegation of the German Chancellor to Nigeria, thereby leveraging on the opportunity presented by the Fourth G20 Investment Summit.

Ngelale recalled that in his discussions with Chancellor Scholz in October, President Tinubu highlighted the imminent need for more German companies to invest in the Nigerian market across multiple sectors of the Nigerian economy, such as transportation, mining, and energy, all while noting that Nigeria remained Germany’s second largest trading partner in Africa.

He said Nigeria and Germany, being the largest economies in Africa and Europe, respectively, recorded an increase in bilateral trade volume from two to three billion Euros between 2021 and 2022.

President Tinubu will return to the country following the conclusion of the conference.

The president had returned to the country on Thursday after attending the Independence anniversary of Guinea-Bissau.

Tinubu went to Guinea-Bissau from Saudi Arabia, where he spent at least six days.