Nigeria seeks Australia's investments in agric, mining

NIGERIA has urged Australian investors to take advantage of the country's potentials in the agriculture and mining sectors, especially now that the country hasrenewed its efforts to develop them.Foreign Affairs Minister, Olugbenga Ashiru, made the call when he received a special envoy of the Australian Prime Minister, Mrs. Joanna Hewitt, in his office, in Abuja.He said Nigeria was focusing on the private sector as the driver of both sectors.'Our agriculture agendais focused on having a private sector-led boards, aimed at making agriculture a private sector business with no government interference. Already, we have a lot of investors operating large scale farming in Nigeria.'As a government, we are concerned about food security, that is why we are making agriculture more mechanised and productive,'' Ashiru said.He acknowledged Australia's expertise in the field of agriculture, adding that though both countries are far apart, the private sector could bridge the gap.Hewitt said Australia was concentrating on areas where its economic profile matches Africa's potentials and priorities, especially in agriculture and mining.The envoy said Australia was willing to share its expertise and experience in research and technology to boost agriculture production in Nigeria and expressed the hope that more Australian investors would tap into the opportunities offered by Nigeria.'We have an annual mining conference in Perth- one of our big mining cities, to encourage them to take advantage of opportunities in Africa''.According to News Agency of Nigeria, Nigeria and Australia established a Business and Investment Forum in 2011, to among others, promote trade between both nations.
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