European Union officials in Lagos held a meeting with members of the European Business Chamber Nigeria (EuroCham) to delegate opportunities and challenges of doing business in the country.
The discussion was held ahead of a meeting between the EU Commission vice president, Margrethe Vestager, and top Nigerian government officials in Abuja last weekend.
“The meeting gave us the opportunity again to underline the fact that trade and investment are very much on top of our priorities, and they are also key priorities in the partnership between the European Union and Nigeria,” said Samuela Isopi, the EU ambassador in Nigeria.
Isopi said the EU would continue its dialogue with the Nigerian government on how to reinforce the economic partnership between the two entities.
“Because development is about the private sector, about developing the economy, when I say private sector it’s not only to attract or help European Union companies but also create good conditions for the Nigerian private sector to be able to contribute to the development of the country,” she said.
EuroCham is a business group uniting the main European investors and corporate organisations in Nigeria. It was launched at the EU-Nigeria Business Forum in October 2018 by the EU ambassador.
The meeting afforded members of the European Business Chamber Nigeria (EuroCham) to highlight some of the challenges their businesses face in the country.
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Nigeria-EU trade
Nigeria’s trade with the EU consists essentially of crude oil exports to Europe and refined oil products back to the country. That change could see a switch to non-oil trade between the two partners.
John Taylor, EU delegation to Nigeria and ECOWAS head of Trade and Economics Section, said as Nigeria’s largest trading partner, the EU is committed to supporting the Nigerian government in developing its economy.
“When you look at the statistics produced by the National Bureau of Statistics in Nigeria you don’t see that because they are collected by country so we have exports from Nigeria to Spain, Germany, Netherlands, France, when you add up all those countries referred to as the EU we are actually the largest trading partner,” Taylor said.
Taylor urged the Nigerian government to improve the infrastructure in the country to enable it to attract foreign investors. “With the Dangote refinery beginning operation later this year, the trade volume between Nigeria and the rest of the world, especially the EU, will change drastically.” He added.
Difficult market
Mary Ojulari, EuroCham president, noted that European businesses operate in a difficult market and the roundtable provides an avenue to come together and discuss the issues they are facing and collectively advocate for change.
“There are countless hurdles for us investors in Nigeria ranging from ease of doing business, dealing with regulators, foreign exchange and the list goes on and on,” she said.
“In line with the objectives of Eurocham, we seek to actively promote trade, investments, and exchanges between European and Nigerian business and to engage central and local government, when necessary, to raise awareness or formulate recommendations on particular issues of interest or concern.” Ojulari said.
