Abuja, Aug. 4, 2016 (NAN) Italy says it wants to contribute and invest in the diversification of the Nigerian economy.
Mr Vincenzo Luca, Director General for Cultural and Economic Promotion and Innovation, Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, made the promise in Abuja on Thursday.
Luca, leader of delegation from Italy, spoke during an investment forum with the Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC).
Luca said the companies are specialised in oil and gas sector, infrastructure, aerospace and defence industry, airways and some important food industries.
“We think we can have a very useful and win win partnership between Italy and Nigeria in the agriculture and aero business sector because we have plenty of resources.
“We can create employment here with our Italian technology as one of the most advanced in food processing in the world’’, he said.
Luca said they would want to build a sustainable partnership in a long term perceptive with Nigeria.
He said Italy was already devising the means of fully exploiting the potentials of Nigeria as well as the prevailing opportunities that the present administration presents.
Luca said Nigeria would be a major strategic partner for development and that they would do everything it takes to sustain and improve on it.
Mrs Ladi Katagum, Acting Executive Secretary of NIPC, said the visit was a vote of confidence because of their intention to invest in Nigeria.
Katagum said that the Italian companies in the country were also with them to show their commitment to reinvest in Nigeria.
She said Eni, Italian multinational oil and gas company promised to invest 11 billion dollars over the next four years.
Katagum said the country was investor- friendly hence they were willing to invest in the country.
She said the commission would be on hand to assist and provide hand holding services to any of the Italian company.
She said lot of foreign investors had shown interest to invest in Nigeria adding that it would take a long time to materialise.
“This is so because no investor will just come and start investing immediately, it is a process and we will soon start to see the dividend of all the delegations’’, Katagum said.
Meanwhile, Dr Maikanti Baru, the Group Managing Director of NNPC, says Nigeria and Spain have expressed their readiness to strengthen their bilateral relations in the oil and gas industry.
He made the statement in a statement signed by Alhaji Garba Deen Muhammad, Group General Manager, Public Affairs, of NNPC in Abuja.
Baru, who spoke when he received the Spanish Ambassador to Nigeria, Amb. Alfonso Barnuevo, in his office, said that the strengthening of bilateral ties in the sector was for the benefit of the two countries.
He said that NNPC, as an integrated oil and gas company, was currently undergoing some transformation, which partly involved pragmatic efforts to improve the corporation’s refining capacity.
He pledged that NNPC would work closely with the Spanish National Oil Company, REPSOL, to improve the technical capacity of its refineries.
“As you know, we have challenges with our refineries and with REPSOL refining about 900,000 barrels of crude oil per day; we can collaborate on that in our efforts to go forward.
“While we are fixing our refineries, we also have the opportunity to bring in more petroleum products from Spain into the country to meet our domestic needs,” he added.
Besides, Baru said that NNPC was collaborating with some Spanish companies in the area of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LNG), also known as cooking gas.
The GMD also expressed NNPC’s desire to boost safer energy utilisation in the country via structured promotion of LPG consumption by the citizens.
He stated that the NNPC was also working on the Trans-Sahara Gas Pipeline Project, adding that it would rely on the technical support of some Spanish companies in efforts to tackle the challenges of gas supply.
Earlier, Barnuevo said that Nigeria and Spain had an established cordial relationship, which dated back to over three decades.
“This visit is to further strengthen the good ties between our nations and in particular, ties between NNPC and REPSOL,” he said
Barnuevo noted that Spain was Nigeria’s second best client in the oil and gas trade, adding that Spain currently bought about 4.6 billion euros worth of oil and gas from Nigeria every year.
He said that in the first quarter of 2015, Spain’s imports represented nine per cent of Nigeria’s total exports.
“Therefore, NNPC and REPSOL will benefit tremendously from sustaining this collaboration,’’ he added.
