New Zealand minister of trade, Tim Groser, has called for economic re-alignment and favourable economic policy for Nigeria and other African countries in order to boost the economies of African countries.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with BusinessDay in Abuja, Groser, who was in Nigeria as part of his campaign tour of member-countries of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to drum support for his candidacy for the position of director-general of the organisation, said that Nigeria should take advantage of her economic relationship with the Asian Tigers to raise her economic status in the world economy.
“The trade volume between Nigeria and China for instance had appreciated significantly. In the year 2000, it increased and grew in the range of $10 billion; in the year 2011, it improved to $170 billion. I urge Nigeria to take advantage of that and boost its economic growth and also grow with Asian countries”, he said.
Asian countries such as Indonesia, China and Malaysia, according to Groser, had similar economic challenges that Nigeria and some other African countries are grappling with now, but that those Asian countries had increased their volume of international trade and raised their level of competitiveness in international market.
He also said Nigeria could be at par with most developed nations economically, if there was good policy space for her and other developing nations.
Saying that he has the support of his country in his quest to be the director-general of the Geneva, Switzerland-based WTO, Groser assured that if given the mandate to lead WTO, he would pursue policies that would ensure that Nigeria and other developing nations are integrated in global trade.
MAX AMUCHIE & HARRISON EDEH, Abuja
He said Nigeria and other developing countries should invest more in trade and pay serious attention to the manufacturing sector which would earn them a place in the world’s economy.
He suggested that Nigeria could also take advantage of international linkage so that some of her products could go into processing chains in other countries in order to sustain a value addition in any of the country’s products.
