Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, says the economic diplomacy carried out by President Bola Tinubu around the world is generating the desired results.
The minister said this while briefing State House correspondents after a meeting with the president in Lagos on Sunday.
Mr Edun said the president had embarked on fruitful economic diplomacy on all the continents: Brazil in South America, China and India in Asia, Germany and France in Europe and elsewhere.
He said, as a follow-up on economic diplomacy, he recently led a delegation to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to ensure the success of the developing relationship between him and Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince.
The delegation included Abubakar Bagudu, the Minister of Budget and National Planning, and Wale Tinubu, a member of the Presidential Economic Coordination Council.
Others were Sanyade Okoli, Special Adviser to the President on Finance and the Economy and Muhammad Abdullahi, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria.
The delegation held talks with the Saudi EXIM Bank, the Saudi Development Fund and the Saudi Agricultural and Livestock Investment Company to advance ongoing conversations about their investments in Nigeria.
“Twice in the last year, Mr President has been in Saudi Arabia, had meetings with the Crown Prince and talked about trade, economic cooperation, financial cooperation and collaboration.
“We just followed up on some of those leads across the various opportunities for foreign direct investment, trade partnerships and for even financial investment,” said Mr Edun.
He said the Saudi Agricultural Livestock Investment Company had on December 23 increased its investment in Olam by $1.2 billion.
Mr Edun added that the president had taken steps to stabilise the Nigerian macroeconomic environment and encourage such investments.
The minister said the takeaways from the visit included prospective investments, foreign exchange and jobs for Nigerians.
“If you look at the demographics of Saudi Arabia, to the extent that they are investing abroad, they are not going to be exporting their people, they’re not like some of the other big, populous countries of Asia.
“The Olam transaction was a long time in the works. It was first discussed at the first Business Council Meeting held last year in Saudi Arabia, and it materialised this year,” said Mr Edun.
(NAN)
