President Goodluck Jonathan will embark on a working visit to Switzerland and Ethiopia tomorrow with engagements in Geneva and Davos devoted to drawing the attention of more members of the international business finance
community to Nigeria's immense investment potentials.
President Jonathan will at a meeting with an Eminent Persons Group on
Nigeria's Transformation Agenda in Geneva on Tuesday lead a drive to
attract greater foreign expertise and capital to boost the Federal
Government's efforts to rapidly modernize and positively transform
Nigeria's agricultural sector.
Members of the Group include Mr. Bill Gates, the former Secretary-General
of the United Nations, Dr. Kofi Annan, the President of the International
Fund for Agricultural Development, Dr. Kanayo Nwanze, the President of the Africa Development Bank, Mr. Donald Kaberuka and the Chairman of the Del Monte Produce Group, Mr. Mohammed Abu-Ghazaleh.
The President will at a special session of the annual meeting of the
world's leading businessmen and industrialists at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday also promote new incentives for investment in
Nigeria's agricultural sector targeted at attracting greater international support for the establishment of a much more successful and profitable
agro-allied industry in the country.
The session will also focus on ongoing policy and institutional reforms in the sector, the establishments of staple crop processing zones and medium to long term financing options for agriculture in Nigeria.
On Thursday, President Jonathan who will be accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture, Dr. Adewunmi Adesina, the Minister of Finance and
Coordinating Minister for the Economy, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, the
Minister of National Planning, Dr. Shamsudeen Usman, the Minister of
Petroleum Resources, Mrs. Diezani Allison-Madueke, the Minister of Trade
and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga and the Governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, is scheduled to host a private
session with representatives of leading multinational companies under the
auspices of the Business Interactive Group on Nigeria.
The President will also seize the opportunity of his participation in
special sessions of the World Economic Forum titled "De-Risking Africa" and
"Africa's Promise" to draw fresh global attention to the great
opportunities which ongoing reforms and deregulation, privatisation and
commercialisation of former public sector monopolies have opened up for
willing investors in key sectors of the Nigerian economy such as oil and
gas, power supply, communications, transportation and agriculture.
President Jonathan will meet privately with the Prime Ministers of the
Netherlands and Norway, the President of Costa Rica and the Chief Executive
Officers of the Huawei Technologies Company, Total and Coca-Cola Worldwide
on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum.
He is expected to leave Switzerland on Friday for the African Union Summit
of Heads of State and Government in Addis Ababa where he will confer with
other African leaders on action to resolve the boundary dispute between
Sudan and South Sudan as well as fresh and ongoing initiatives to restore
peace, security, political stability and normalcy to Mali, Guinea-Bissau,
Somalia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Reuben Abati
Special Adviser to the President
(Media & Publicity)
*January 20, 2013*
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