Nigeria-Brazil trade dip to $2bn

Brazilian Foreign Affairs Minister, Aloysio Fereira at the end of a meeting with his Nigerian counterpart, Geoffrey Onyeama said that the trade volume between the two countries was $2billion in 2016 down from about $12 billion that it was some years back.

“Volume of trade is two billion dollars, but some years back it was about 12 billion dollars and has now decreased because of economic crisis.

“This is what we are trying to revive so that Nigeria and Brazil trade relations can start to grow again,” he said.

He said that partnership between the two countries was a unique, adding that it went beyond economy.

“Our partnership is strategic as it is not only on trade; it is also historical and cultural.

“We have cooperation in investment; we just had conference of Nigerian-Brazilian investors in Lagos which aimed at boosting the prospect possibilities of partnership and investment in the country.

“Some of them have already started yielding very good result.”

Earlier, Onyeama said that there were plans to improve the balance of trade between two countries.

The Minister said that the two countries would work together to strengthen their bilateral relations.

Onyeama said that Nigeria was going to partner with Brazil in the area of food production.

“As you know, Brazil is one of the largest food producers in the world; we have different areas through which Nigeria and Brazil can really cooperate in the agricultural sector,’’ he said.

He said that Nigeria could learn a lot in the area of research and production of food which could be done through a number of programmes being run by Brazil.

“They also have a number of interesting programmes in assisting interested countries in food production and making food available.

“So, we are looking at how to benefit from that, especially in the area of livestock and other food produce.

“We did discuss the possibilities of how to take part in the very effective food programme.”