Taiwan with a population of about 24 million people and a GDP of $791.6 billion is seeking to deepen its trade relationship with Nigeria, especially in areas of petrochemical industries, agriculture, auto parts, machine tools and consumer goods.
Taiwan, less endowed with natural resources like Nigeria, is a leading country globally in information technology and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
James Huang, chairman of Taiwan External Trade Development Council, who led a 10-man Taiwanese trade delegation to Nigeria, told BusinessDay last weekend in Lagos that they aimed to promote and boost the already trade relationship between both countries.
Trade volume between Taiwan and Nigeria was $500m in 2023 from $1 billion in 2021. Taiwan imports agricultural products from Nigeria for its food processing industries but in 2023 imports from Nigeria matched Taiwan’s demand.
Speaking on areas both countries can cooperate, James Huang, who was at ‘Taiwan Technology Day’ in Lagos to mark the end of the delegation visit to Nigeria, said Nigeria is the biggest oil producer in Africa and Taiwan, apart from its ICT, semi-conductor industries, is strong in terms of petrochemical industries, in down and upstream applications.
“Petrochemical industries are certainly areas Taiwan and Nigeria can cooperate. There is also great potential for the two countries to cooperate in other areas such as machine tools, auto parts and consumer goods”, he said.
