Germany seeks to strengthen bilateral ties with Nigeria, pays diplomatic visit

Germany’s Federal Minister of Economic Cooperation and Development, Svenja Schulze is in Nigeria for diplomatic visits to the Ministry of Budget and Economic Planning as well as the Ministry of Industry, Trade, and Investment from January 4th to 8th to strengthen economic ties between the countries, discuss bilateral trade and collaborate on economic development initiatives.

In the late hours of Sunday, Schulze landed at the Nnamdi Azikwe International Airport alongside Bärbel Kofler, the parliamentary state secretary to kickstart the 3-day visit, revealed footage from the German Embassy in Abuja. She is expected to hold meetings with Abubakar Atiku Bagudu, minister of budget and economic planning, and Doris Uzoka-Anitethe, minister of industry, trade and investment.

A diplomatic meeting with Alieu Omar Touray, president of the Commission of the West African Economic Community, ECOWAS, has also been set up to discuss the situation of development cooperation in West Africa. This comes in light of Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger’s exit from the bloc on January 28th.

The economic minister is visiting in her capacity as President of the Sahel Alliance, an international cooperation platform to provide more support for development initiatives in the Sahel region. In 2022, the Sahel Alliance accounted for supporting more than 1,300 projects with a total spend of €28.77 billion.

Schulze’s visit marks the second visit from the German government to Nigeria since 2023, aimed at strengthening bilateral relations. Olaf Scholz, the chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, visited Nigeria on October 29th and 30th, 2023. During his visit, he met with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Touray in Abuja. Additionally, he opened a Nigeria-German Business Conference organized by the Nigerian-German Chamber of Commerce in Lagos.

The statement by the German embassy in Nigeria further stated that Schulze would conduct other project visits during the 3 days which would see Kofler, the parliamentary state secretary journey to Lagos to visit projects at the University of Lagos and hold discussions with the Lagos State Government on “current challenges and possible cooperations.”