By New Agency of Nigeria
Sudan has assured of her readiness to work closely with Nigeria on the establishment of a businessmen council to boost trade relations between the two countries.
Sudanese Ambassador to Nigeria Mr Mohamed Abdelmannan gave the assurance in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja.
Abdelmannan, who noted that the diplomatic relationship between Sudan and Nigeria has been mutual, said that the relationship would be strengthened to boost trade volume between both countries.
The envoy said Sudan-Nigeria diplomatic relations were established since their independence and more would be done to deepen such ties through trade cooperation.
“The volume of trade between both countries is not big, it is not as expected volume of trade, it is supposed to be more than that, this is because Nigeria and Sudan have huge resources.
“Nigeria has a huge population, which makes it one of the fifth-largest volume of trade in Africa, when you look at the Sudan-Nigeria volume of trade, you will discover it is limited in the diversity of items they are trading.
“Sudan only exports from Nigeria about $10 million in terms of spare parts and cosmetics, whereas goods imported from Sudan to Nigeria are between $500, 000 to $1 million, it is a very poor volume of trade.
“Nigeria gets from Sudan hides, skin items and also Gum Arabic among others trade between them, now both countries are working to increase trade volume and improve bilateral relations.
“We are also establishing a businessmen council between both countries to bring businessmen from Nigeria and Sudan to establish a joint council for business and trade.
“It is hoped that efforts in this direction will provide fruitful results.”
Abdelmannan, however, expressed optimism in the bilateral relations between Nigeria and Sudan, saying such could ensure the growth of African trade.
He extolled African Continental Free Trade Agreement operations as a right step in the right direction, in terms of the promotion of international trade in the continent.
According to him, amidst all economic and trade blocs, African leaders established free trade area in 2018, which although became effective in January 2021, was not proper to evaluate operation in two years.
“It needs time to fully be in operation, evaluated, and assessed. It is a big forum that has a 1.3 trillion population and $3.4 million, which is the trade volume between African countries.
“Still, there is a way for this trade to be implemented; there is a valid and non-valid tariff that should be overcome.
“Non-valid tariff varies, there are issues about roads and movement, visa within African countries, issue about customs and delay at border across countries.
“This non-tariff variance needs to be overcome when the agreement is in full force. When you implement the agreement you will discover problems faced and you can solve these problems.
“We hope this trade agreement can unify and integrate Africa together, help in Inter-African trade and other intercontinental trade with other continents.”