Trade volume between Nigeria and France have hit N1 trillion, the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Mr. Olusegun Aganga, has said. He made this known last week during the Small and Medium Scale Enterprises development Memorandum of Understanding agreement signing ceremony in Abuja. The French Minister of Foreign Trade, Mrs. Nicole Bricq was also present at the event.
He said, “Trade between the two countries dated back to the 18th century and had continuously grown over the years. Since then, it has grown significantly over the years from about N550 billion in 2008 to about N1 trillion (€5.7 billion) in 2012.”
“More than half of our automobile components are imported from France and we have quite a number of French companies operating in Nigeria. This shows that the two countries have continued to enjoy a long standing economic relationship”, he added.
Bricq said, “So, given the great importance of Nigeria as a regional economic engine, we want to increase our trade and investment activities in Nigeria. We have 5,000 companies in Cote d’Ivoire, but in Nigeria we have just 800 companies and Nigeria is bigger,” the minister said. She said France would want to invest in the areas of energy, water management and transport in Nigeria.
According to the France Ambassador to Nigeria Jacques Champagnede Labroille, Nigeria’s import in 2012 stood at €4billion, France export during the period was €1.7billion.
