Nigeria's trade volume with Indonesia hits N320bn
The Indonesian Minister of Trade, Mr. Gita Wirjawan, has said that his country's trade volume with Nigeria currently stands at $2bn (N320bn).
He said this during the Nigeria-Indonesia bilateral trade meeting and business luncheon in Abuja on Saturday.
The meeting was attended by the Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga; Indonesian Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr. Sudirman Haseng; representatives of over 20 Indonesian companies; presidents of both the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria and Nigerian Association of Chambers of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture, as well as captains of industry.
'Indonesia is currently a trillion dollar economy, with trade volume with Nigeria at about $2bn,' Wirjawan said.
He said a Preferential Trade Agreement between Nigeria and Indonesia would soon be concluded as part of efforts to increase trade and investment between both countries.
Wirjawan said, 'Nigeria has been recognised globally as the biggest market for Foreign Direct Investment in Africa. This is very important for us, especially considering the huge human and natural resource base in Nigeria.
'There are over 15 Indonesian companies currently operating and doing well in Nigeria. One of the major things that we want to do in the nearest future is how to work out a PTA between Nigeria and Indonesia so that we can increase the current level of trade and investment in both countries. Hopefully, this will come into effect very soon.'
However, Aganga said both countries would work together to double the trade volume by 2015.
He said Nigeria and Indonesia would come up with strategic and implement-able action plans to ensure that both countries leveraged the cordial bilateral trade relationship to boost trade and increase FDI.
Aganga said, 'It is good to have country-to-country discussions and bilateral agreements, but at the end of the day, most of these things come down to the people and how they put discussions and agreements into action.
'The Indonesian Minister of Trade and I have agreed that our technical teams will come together and put together a strategic plan for Nigeria and Indonesian, which we will implement going forward.
'In terms of trade, we have already set targets for ourselves in terms of where we want to be and what we want to achieve. One of our major objectives is to double the bilateral trade between the two countries by 2015, particularly when we have met and had bilateral discussions and agreements. We will work together to make sure that this happens.'