President Tinubu Leaves For Berlin,  Attends G20 ‘Compact With Africa’ Conference

By Ayodele Oni

Two days after returning from Saudi Arabia, President Bola Tinubu will, on Saturday, depart Abuja for Berlin, Germany, to attend the G20 Compact with Africa (CwA) Conference.

The conference, being hosted by German Chancellor af Scholz, begins on November 20.

During the conference, President Tinubu is expected to join other Heads of State and Government of CwA member countries, bilateral partners, as well as Heads of International Organizations to deliberate on the immediate enhancement of economic and business cooperation.

This is with a view to outlining concrete measures to boost investments in critical areas such as energy, trade, infrastructure, and new technologies, among others.

Presidential spokesman, Ajuri Ngalele, in a statement on Friday, explained that the G20 CwA Conference will be taking place alongside the Fourth G20 Investment Summit, co-hosted by the German government and German business associations.

The statement added that “In view of President Bola Tinubu’s globally recognized drive for foreign direct investment in Nigeria, the President will sustain the momentum and advance the mission further as he leads Nigeria’s delegation to participate in the investment summit.

“This visit also affirms President Tinubu’s commitment to diplomatic reciprocity as the invitation to Germany from the German Chancellor is being honoured following the visit of the German Chancellor to Abuja and Lagos, Nigeria, from October 29 to October 30, 2023.

“Leveraging on the opportunity presented by the Fourth G20 Investment Summit, the Nigerian delegation will follow up on productive meetings previously conducted with high-ranking representatives from German business organizations, who were part of the official delegation of the German Chancellor to Nigeria.

“In his discussions with Chancellor Scholz in October, President Tinubu highlighted the imminent need for more German companies to invest in the Nigerian market across multiple sectors of the Nigerian economy, such as transportation, mining, and energy, all while noting that Nigeria remains Germany’s second largest trading partner in Africa.

“Nigeria and Germany, being the largest economies in Africa and Europe, respectively, recorded an increase in bilateral trade volume from two to three billion Euros between 2021 and 2022.

“The President will be accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Amb. Yusuf Tuggar; the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun; the Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Doris Uzoka-Anite; and the Minister of Power, Chief Adebayo Adelabu.”