The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) on behalf of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has announced its readiness to nurture the country’s economic relations with the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire.
The relations is said to be mostly in the areas of port and shipping operations, in order to strengthen the capacities of both countries to participate competitively in global and regional trade.
Acting Managing Director of the NPA, Mohammed Bello-Koko stated this while receiving a delegation from the Republic of Cote d’Ivoire who paid him a courtesy visit at the NPA corporate headquarters in Marina, Lagos, recently.
The NPA boss stated that the Nigerian Government under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari has introduced far reaching reforms to facilitate crossborder trade, particularly nurturing a multimodal port system to reduce the cost of shipments in and out of the country.
“The Buhari administration has also invested heavily in major public infrastructure upgrades, including construction of modern rail lines and deep seaports, to boost the international competitiveness of the country’s trade as well as positioned Nigeria as gateway to the African economy,” the NPA Acting MD said.
Bello-Koko assured the delegation that the NPA would do all that is required to address non tariff barriers and restrictions to trade between the two sister countries. He added that there is room for information sharing, just as both countries need to cooperate more in the areas of joint training of staff and technology transfer.
In his address, the Ambassador of Cote d’Ivoire to Nigeria, H.E. Traore Kalilou described the bilateral relations between the countries as strategic, and that he looks forward to a review of existing agreements before the end of the year. He commended the NPA management on its value adding interventions, which has raised the performance of the country’s supply chain.
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