The Federal Government has unveiled plans to double the country’s trade volume with Brazil from the current $9bn (N1.422tn) to $18bn (N2.844tn) by 2015.
The Brazilian President, Ms. Dilma Rousseff, told journalists after a two-hour closed door meeting with President Goodluck Jonathan in Abuja on Saturday that the volume of trade between both countries stood at $9bn at the end of 2012.
The Minister of Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, while speaking on Saturday in Abuja at a Nigeria-Brazil trade forum, said both countries had agreed to strengthen trade and investment ties by leveraging areas where they had competitive and comparative advantage.
He said, “The trade volume between both countries has increased significantly over the years. Brazil is our number three trading partner in terms of crude oil exports after the United States of America and India. In terms of imports from Brazil, most of our rice, sugar and automobiles come from Brazil.
“So, Nigeria has had a good trading relationship with Brazil for a very long time now. The Brazilian Minister of State, Ministry of Development, Industry and its Foreign Trade, Mr. Fernado Pimentel, and I will work together to double the trade volume between Nigeria and Brazil by 2015.”
Aganga said both countries had also agreed to put in place mechanism that would accelerate trade development between them.
He said the Federal Government had opened discussions with Brazil to have a direct flight from Nigeria to Brazil, adding that when approved, the move would help to facilitate trade.
“We will have a direct flight from Nigeria to Brazil. Today, a flight that should take six hours is taking us 24 hours. That is not good for business; it is not good for investment. We have a trade commission in place that will accelerate that process,” the minister said.
Aganga explained that the forum was to further strengthen the trade relationship between both countries by exploring some workable strategies.
Also speaking at the event, Pimentel admitted that there was a need to strengthen trade ties between the two countries.
He expressed hope that the forum would achieve the desired goal of increasing the trade volume by 2015.
The President, Nigeria-Brazil Chamber of Commerce, Mr. Emmanuel Ibru, lamented the lack of direct trade link between the two countries, adding that something needed to be done to address the anomaly.
“There is no longer a direct link as it used to be in the past, this is one of the major areas that the chamber is pursuing. We have been working on that and we think something positive will come up on it,” he added.