Stories by Ayodele Samuel, Lagos
European Union Ambassador to Nigeria, Mr Michel Arrior, has said the Union has no trade offensive in Nigeria.
Arrior who spoke on the sideline at a summit on Cocoa Value Addition in Nigeria said, Nigeria remains the number one largest trading partner with Europe with total trade volume of $50 billion in 2013.
Giving backing to the Common External Tariff, Arrior said “a good and well-functioning West Africa and Common External Tariff is a welcome development.
Consumer and finished products would be excluded from trading agreement with Nigeria,” he noted.
Also, the Regional Director, United Nations Industrial Development Organisation, (UNIDO) Dr. Patrick Kormawa, stated that, despite growing efforts of many African governments and private sector to move their way up the value chain, they remained constrained by the lack of appropriate financing, technical and management deficiencies and limited market access opportunities.
He urged the stakeholders’ forum to further examine and come up with plausible strategies to address the four key problems inhibiting increased value addition to cocoa in Nigeria.
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